新年快乐! Happy Lunar New Year
Lindsey Botkin | February 8, 2024
新年快乐 (pronounced: xing nian kuai le)! Happy New Year!
Lunar New Year is a holiday celebrated by almost 2 billion people across the world. In many Asian communities, this is the most important holiday of the year, but many folks in America may not even be aware of its passing, history and tradition.
Celebrated between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20, each year Lunar New Year follows the lunar calendar. Although the Gregorian calendar has since been adopted, outdating the lunar calendar, this holiday remains important to many Asian cultures across the globe. This holiday falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, which is on Dec. 21. With each passing year, one of twelve animals from the Chinese zodiac is assigned to the coming year, said to foresee what the year will bring. Although the reason behind the holiday has changed over the 3,500 years it has been celebrated, Lunar New Year remains the most important holiday in China and many other Asian countries. It is a national holiday and citizens receive a week off for the intense celebration.
Individuals will wear red adorned with golden details and children will receive red envelopes 红封 (pronounced: hong feng) as gifts, usually full of Chinese money ¥ (pronounced: yuan). Fireworks are set off and dumplings 饺子 (pronounced: jiao zi) are eaten for luck. Like most holidays around the world, all of these traditions and celebrations are rooted in folklore.
As a former Mandarin student, each year my teacher 老师 (pronounced: lao shi) would tell my class the story behind the new year. The monster named 年 (pronounced: nian), which translates to “year” in English, would come down from its mountain on the night of the second new moon after the winter solstice. This monster would feast on people, animals and crops. The townspeople lived in fear of 年, all of them except for one. An old man who lived in the town decided that enough was enough. He did not cower from the monster coming to the town, instead, he decorated his house in red and wore bright red clothes. He set off fireworks and lit candles in his home to keep the monster from destroying it. On the morning after the new moon, the townspeople peeked their heads out and were astounded to see that the old man had protected the town by standing up to the monster.
Of course, while there are variations on this story from region to region, this version was the one I was always taught.
Part of what makes the Lunar New Year exciting for many people is the food. As friends and family come together to celebrate, dumplings and oranges are among the foods that are traditionally seen at any Lunar New Year gathering. Dumplings, or 饺子 (pronounced jiao zi), are said to bring more luck the more of them you eat. This is widely believed to be because they look like a type of currency that was used in China around 1,000 years ago. The dumplings can have various fillings, but the most popular and traditional options are pork and cabbage. Oranges are also often found at Lunar New Year celebrations largely because of the properties they represent. Some Taiwanese tales and traditions involve throwing an orange with your phone number written on it into a city's river for a potential suitor to find.
Of course, food is not the only exciting thing that comes with the Lunar New Year festivities. Along with the food, there are fireworks, firecrackers and the iconic dragon or lion dances. The Lunar New Year dragon dance is one of the more recognized traditions by mainstream media. The dances themselves are complex. Dancers undergo training for one to two years. This is because the basic dance steps not only require the dancer to control their own body but to move the dragon or lion in sync with the dancers around them, combining dancing footsteps with martial arts movements.
Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year and Spring Festival are many names for the same thing. A holiday that celebrates the start of a new year, the coming of prosperity and so much more.