The Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year is a major celebration in many Asian countries and their diasporas around the globe.
Chinese New Year, also referred to as the Spring Festival, is roughly a two-week-long celebration marking the first day of the Chinese calendar year, which lands on Wednesday this year.
Each Chinese New Year revolves around a 12-year cycle and is associated with an animal in the Chinese zodiac, which is then paired with any one of the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth.
This new year marks the year of the wood snake.
While its origins are in China, and Chinese communities in countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore celebrate under the same name and with similar traditions, others, such as in Vietnam and the Korean Peninsula, have an entirely different name for their Lunar New Year festivals.
How is the Chinese New Year celebrated?
The days leading up to the new year are spent thoroughly cleaning households to cleanse the space of any bad luck from the previous year.
This cleaning is believed to welcome good luck for the year ahead. Decorations also go up, including lanterns, paper cuttings and fresh paint – all in a bright red colour, which invites good luck as well.
Celebrations start with a family reunion dinner on the eve of the new year.
As the first day of the new year rolls in, homes fill up with family and friends who come bearing gifts, oranges and red envelopes with small amounts of money, known as ang pao or hongbao, for the little ones.
Greetings and well wishes are exchanged, including the more common Chinese-language phrases Gong Xi Fa Cai, and Xin Nian Kuai Le, which roughly translate to happiness, peace and prosperity for the upcoming days.
Beliefs vary with some refraining from sweeping their homes or cutting their hair and nails in the first few days for fear of losing good luck that has accrued through the visits of New Year well-wishers, according to Yvonne Goh, a Malaysian of Chinese descent.
Traditional lion dances are a central part of the celebrations as they invite good luck and ward off evil spirits from homes, businesses and workplaces.
Traditionally, married women were expected to spend the first day of the Chinese New Year with their in-laws while the second day was reserved for daughters to visit their parents.
The third day is expected to be quieter and resting is prioritised, while the fourth and fifth days are dedicated to the God of Wealth. The sixth day of celebrations is said to see people get rid of old or unwanted belongings and resume work.
On the seventh day, China’s mother goddess Nuwa is believed to have created humans.
Koreans celebrate ‘Seollal’, Vietnamese mark ‘Tet’
The Korean New Year (Seollal) and the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) are also celebrated, in their own unique ways.
The Korean New Year is celebrated over a period of three days, where celebrations are traditionally centred around family gatherings, Korean traditional food and rituals. For South and North Koreans alike, this will be the year of the green snake, believed to bring transformation, growth and development.
Some of the more crucial aspects of the Korean festivities include the sebae, a deep bow of respect performed by younger generations to their elders as a way of wishing them a happy new year.
Typically the sebae is performed while wearing traditional clothing called the hanbok. In return, elders present younger people with tokens of cash in envelopes called sebaetdon.
Worshipping ancestors, known as charye, is also an important part of the new year. Food is laid out on a table as offerings to the ancestors, and deep bows are performed as a sign of respect.
A rice cake soup known as tteokguk is also served alongside other dishes such as Korean dumplings. However, the tteokguk takes a special place on the dining table as it is served once every year due to beliefs that eating it would make a person one year older.
The Vietnamese New Year celebration of Tet, short for Tet Nguyen Dan which means “festival of the first day”, is celebrated over three days as opposed to the traditional 15 of the Chinese New Year.
Tet is one of the most important holidays in Vietnam, where offices and businesses close down for seven to nine days around the holiday.
The Vietnamese also prioritise spending time with family, paying respect to ancestors, praying to Gods as well as resting before the start of a new year.
Before Tet, Vietnamese people observe Ong Cong, the day of the Kitchen God, a deity believed to govern the family’s affairs. On this day, family altars to ancestors are cleaned, new offerings are put out, and incense is burned.
Wrapping of the Chung cake, also called the Tet cake, cleaning and decorating homes with kumquats, peach blossoms and apricot blossoms are also an integral part of preparations.
And the day before Tet, families prepare five fruit trays which are laid out at the altar for ancestors, while visits to the graves of ancestors are made with offerings.
Typically the first day of celebration is reserved for the paternal side of the family while the second day is for the maternal side.
Vietnamese culture also places teachers in high regard, with the third day of the new year dedicated to honouring teachers.
Tibet’s ‘Losar’ and Mongolia’s ‘Tsagaan Sar’
In Tibet and parts of India with significant Tibetan Buddhist communities, Losar, which translates to the new year on the Tibetan lunisolar calendar, is celebrated around a similar timeframe as the Chinese New Year.
However, the dates are slightly different, with this year’s Losar set to be marked on February 28 and extending over a period of 15 days.
Losar is often observed through traditional and religious rituals performed in monasteries and temples, cultural events and family bonding over shared meals and gifts.
Mongolia will celebrate its new year, known as Tsagaan Sar on March 1, based on the Mongolian lunisolar calendar.
However, preparations begin in advance, which includes house cleaning and preparing food. Family, neighbours and friends visit each other, offerings are dedicated to deities and the actual new year’s day is started by walking in a specific direction based on zodiac prescriptions.
