The sounds of music, dragon dances, drums, cheering, and fireworks, echo all around you as this lively annual event comes around the corner. Anytime between late January and mid February, many countries in Eastern Asia like China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia welcome the new year by wearing new clothes, hanging up red decorations, and watching and participating in the dragon dance. This exciting festival is called Lunar New Year.
Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, was named after the start of the Chinese lunar calendar. Fireworks and red decorations that are a big part of this time of year all begin with a story of a beast named “Nian”, meaning year. As told by the Confucius Institute of Scotland, Nian would attack people of the villages and their livestock every year on the last day of the lunar calendar. People would often eat all of their food early before fleeing from the beast.
One of the main traditions that are celebrated during Lunar New year is the dragon dance. This dance consists of a group of performers with poles that connect to the dragon costume and move the poles in a rhythmic way to imitate a dragon dancing. The dragon is believed to represent courage and power. Another famous dance during this time is the lion dance. The lion represents happiness, wisdom, and superiority.
Red envelopes called hongbao in Mandarin, lai see in Cantonese, and li xi in Vietnamese, are red packets filled with money. They are a big part of Lunar New year and are often given on many important occasions like birthdays and weddings as well. Th
ese envelopes often have golden Chinese accents on them and are expected to bestow happiness and blessings on the receivers.
Food is another distinct aspect of Lunar New Year. Chang Shou Mian, often known as “Long Life Noodles”, Tangyuan, Fish, and Banh Chung are all expected to begin to come around during this time of year. Each of these foods symbolizes something during the new year.
2024 is the year of the dragon, one of the twelve Chinese zodiacs. Something interesting is that there is a dog zodiac, but no cat zodiac. According to Royal Mint Stories, there’s a legend that explains this. There was a race in which the first twelve animals to finish the race would become a lunar animal. Cat always liked to sleep late
, so they asked Rat to wake them up for the race. Rat agreed, but on the morning of the race, Rat forgot to wake Cat. T
he twelve first animals to finish the race were Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. When Cat found out that he missed the race, he was furious, and from then on, cats would hunt rats whenever they saw them.
Lunar New Year has been celebrated for thousands of years and is an important social and economic holiday for millions of people around the world. People engage in all the festivities this event has to offer, wish for luck and prosperity for the new year, honor household and heavenly deities and ancestors, and spend time with friends and family. Lunar New Year is a thrilling time to bring people together for feasting, fun, traditional activities, and food. With Lunar New Year coming up, consider all these traditions from every culture, and have a happy new year! Chúc mừng năm mới! 新年快乐!