Explore the rich traditions and symbolism of the Lunar New Year, a holiday celebrated by Asian communities worldwide. Discover the history, customs, and lucky foods associated with this joyous occasion.
Every winter, Asian communities around the world celebrate the Lunar New Year with vibrant carnivals, delicious food, family gatherings, lively parades, and much more. This special holiday, known as the Spring Festival in China, Tet in Vietnam, and Seollal in South Korea, marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the lunisolar calendar. The lunar calendar, based on the cycles of the moon, causes the new year to fall on a different date each year.
Each month, the new year begins on the new moon closest to the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. This typically places the holiday between January 21st and February 20th.While the celebration is most widely observed in China, Vietnam, South Korea, and other East Asian countries, communities around the globe with cultural ties to these regions also partake in the festivities. In the days following the New Year, communities often come together for parades, fireworks displays, music performances, and carnivals. Families prepare for the holiday by decorating windows with red paper cuttings, adorning doors with couplets expressing their wishes for the new year, and placing fruits and flowers around the house. Many also clean and cut their hair in an attempt to cleanse away the previous year's bad luck, believing that doing so during the new year celebration might negate any good fortune the new year might bring. During this time, people often enjoy traditional foods believed to bring good luck and fortune in the coming year. Popular choices include fish, symbolizing abundance and good fortune, sweet rice balls known as tangyuan eaten on the final day of the holiday, Lantern Festival, and golden spring rolls and dumplings, said to bring prosperity. Leafy greens are enjoyed for their association with wealth, and noodles represent the wish for a long and healthy life.Each year of the Lunar New Year is associated with one of the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac calendar cycle: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, or pig. Each animal is believed to bring unique characteristics to the year. According to legend, a god once invited all animals to bid him farewell before his departure from earth, but only 12 responded. These twelve animals are now honored in the Chinese Zodiac. The Vietnamese Zodiac follows a similar pattern but celebrates the cat instead of the rabbit and the buffalo instead of the ox. Other Asian cultures also have their own variations of the Zodiac. Ancient Chinese culture held both positive and negative views of snakes. Snakes were often linked to the yin, representing darkness, dampness, poison, and femininity. Conversely, they were also viewed as symbols of wisdom, healing, and transformation
Lunar New Year Spring Festival Tet Seollal Chinese Zodiac Traditions Customs Lucky Foods Asian Culture
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