Celebration

Generally, Lunar New Year has a different date each year. It is based on the lunar calendar. This year, it started on January 31st as Lunar New Year's Eve and ended on February 15th. But in China, only the first seven days are considered a public holiday by the government. Lunar New Year is particularly celebrated among East and Southeast Asian counties, including China, Vietnam, and Korea.

Lunar New Year is annually represented by one of 12 animals. The animals consist of Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. This year is the year of the tiger. People believe each animal is associated with different qualities. For example, those who were born in the tiger year are supposed to be brave, adventurous, and aggressive. Roosters are supposed to be capable, honest, and critical of others sometimes. This also meant each animal has two sides, both good and bad.

With Lunar New Year arriving, people decorate their front doors with spring festival couplets, expressing the feeling of lifestyle renewal and the return of spring. In preparation for the New Year, people clean their houses thoroughly to get rid of any bad luck left over from the old year.

The New Year’s Eve dinner is extremely important to the Chinese. Millions of people will travel across China to celebrate with their families for this feast, although it’s sometimes thousands of miles distance. The experts estimate 1 billion trips have been made this year, so it’s the world’s largest annual migration. During the holiday, the Chinese have a tradition of visiting friends and relatives as that’s the only time when people are taking a break together in a year. Every different area has a different way of celebrating. The family banquets and outdoor fireworks are commonly celebrated, and spring rolls and dumplings are the main courses in the family banquets. In the South of China, rice cakes are the special treat for the festival, however, the noodles are the staple in northern China cuisine. The money in red envelopes is also known as red pockets. By giving the red pockets to children, elders are hoping for a year of good fortune and blessings, and another version is given by the employers, which is always meant as an incentive. In addition to that, dancing dragons are also seen during the New Year but it is more popular in Hong Kong and Guangdong.