Exploring Lunar New Year Celebrations

This year, Lunar New Year, beginning on February 10th and ending on February 24th, welcomes the year of the dragon! This 15-day celebration has one of the richest and longest-standing histories, originating from the Chinese lunisolar calendar, dating back more than 4000 years. Despite the celebration’s origins, Vietnam, South Korea, and most of East Asia also celebrate the lunisolar New Year. Embark on a journey with us to explore some traditions surrounding Lunar New Year!

The Chinese Zodiac

In the lunisolar calendar, months are lunar but years are solar. The Chinese zodiac based on this calendar includes 12 animals, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Your zodiac animal sign is determined by your birth year and it is said that you will have the characteristics of your animal sign. Those born in 2024 may have the dragon’s characteristics, including intelligence, enthusiasm, and loyalty.

Luck and Prosperity

Luck and prosperity are core themes in celebration of the new year and many traditions center on these values. New Year’s Eve calls for family to gather for a feast which includes dishes associated with luck, including dumplings, puddings, and fish. The color red is symbolic of luck, fortune, prosperity, and celebration, and gold is symbolic of wealth. Those who celebrate the holiday often wear these colors, as well as decorate with them to attract good fortune.

Superstition

Another meaningful tradition is to avoid washing or cutting your hair on the first day of the new year as it can be seen as washing or cutting away the prosperity of the year ahead! This also goes for cleaning!

Protection

Small red envelopes, called hongbao in Mandarin, are filled with money and given out to children and unmarried people to protect them and ward off old age and evil spirits called sui. The amount of money in these envelopes can vary, yet they are typically in even numbers, as odd are unlucky!

The Lantern Festival

Yuan Xiao Jie, or the Lantern Festival, marks the first full moon of the year and brings the New Year celebrations to a close. This festival welcomes spring, and the lanterns symbolize extinguishing darkness and ushering in hope for the new year. They symbolize letting go of your past self, and they are often red to represent good fortune!

If you find yourself enamored by the rich and colorful traditions of the Lunar New Year, try your hand at exploring the Mandarin language and diving deeper into the culture! If you would like to accelerate your language learning journey and connect with world-class instructors, get in touch with us at LanguageBird so we can support your newest endeavors!