For example, Cantonese people eat dishes made of seven types of vegetables. The seventh day of the Lunar New Year (February 23) is when followers believe the Chinese mother goddess, Nuwa, created humanity. As noted earlier, for many people Lunar New Year is a time to consult the stars to find out what lies ahead in the coming months.
Traditional foods include carp for long life, whole fish for abundance, dumplings and spring rolls for wealth, long noodles for longevity, sticky rice cakes for success, and citrus fruits for good luck. On the first day of the New Year, sweeping or cleaning is avoided as it is believed to brush away good fortune. In 2026 the Chinese New Year marks the Year of the Horse, according to the Chinese zodiac calendar. These greetings or phrases may also be used just before children receive their red packets, when gifts are exchanged, when visiting temples, or even when tossing the shredded ingredients of yusheng, particularly popular in Malaysia and Singapore. For example, as breaking objects during the new year is considered inauspicious, one may then say 歲歲平安 (Suìsuì-píng’ān) immediately, which means „everlasting peace year after year“.
What foods are traditionally eaten during the Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year festivities occur throughout Thailand, especially in provinces where many people of Chinese descent live, such as Nakhon Sawan, Suphan Buri, and Phuket. Hokkien households celebrate the Jade Emperor’s birthday, known colloquially as the „Hokkien New Year“, on the ninth day, with offerings. Penang’s Chief Minister customarily hosts an „open house“ for the public, while various other events take place across the city, including at the Chinese clan houses and the Snake Temple. However, transportation in eastern Taiwan and between Taiwan and its outlying islands is less convenient.
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- One of the key celebrations is the Chinese New Year parade with floats and fireworks taking place along the streets in Chinatown, Manhattan, the largest Chinese New Year parade outside Asia.
- In ancient Chinese society, it was the only day when young girls were allowed to go out to admire the lanterns and meet boys.
- Like many major holidays, Lunar New Year can be a lot of work.
- Meanwhile, Wellington hosts a two-day weekend festival for Chinese New Year, and a one-day festival is held in Dunedin, centred on the city’s Chinese gardens.
- “China Xian Tour put together 9 days Beijing, Zhangjiajie, Guilin and Xian Tour bespoke to us.
- The Lunar New Year in 2026 welcomes the Year of the Horse, according to the Chinese lunar calendar.
- These yearly combinations are believed to influence the traits of the era and the people born in that year.
We’ve mentioned a lot about the colour red in the celebrations and what it symbolises. The colour red is believed to bring positivity and happiness and also ward off evil spirits. The red envelopes are a token of good fortune and symbolise good luck. Another long‑standing tradition is passing red envelopes, known as Hóngbāo, to friends and family.
During Spring Festival, elders should distribute pre-prepared lucky money to younger generations as a Lunar New Year gift. Since 1983, the Spring Festival Gala held by CCTV has become a “new custom” for Chinese people and an unmissable feast on New Year’s Eve every year. This is an important part of Chinese New Year Celebration, where people prepare various delicacies such as fish, meat, vegetables, etc., symbolizing “surplus every year” and “steady progress”. It is a traditional custom that has a great influence and is widely spread among Chinese people. From then on, every New Year’s Eve, every household would stick red couplets and set off firecrackers; make candles burning brightly all night and keep watch for the New Year. It is not only a special moment symbolizing rebirth, hope, and reunion, but also reflects the reverence and respect for time and nature in traditional Chinese culture.
If you are interested in any one of the festivals, China Xian Tour can recommend you the cities with strong festival atmosphere and then tailor a trip to include more unique experiences of the festival. The common things to avoid are that do not speak bad words, break things or sweep the floor (in case you sweep out the good luck). In solar calendar, it is usually between January 20th – February 20th. All the family members gather together to enjoy a fancy dinner, which symbolizes family harmony, reunion and happiness. When choosing gifts, attention should be paid to practicality and the preferences of the recipient, as well as the festival cultural connotations and social etiquette. —Wishing you a happy new year, good luck, and Ringospin Casino all the best!
- The Chinese zodiac follows a 12-year cycle, with each year represented by a different animal.
- Families prepare food in advance since using sharp objects on New Year’s Day is considered unlucky.
- However, in 1873, five years after the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar, and the first day of January became the official and cultural New Year’s Day in Japan.
- In some places, the taking of a family portrait is an important ceremony after the relatives are gathered.
- Another theory is that bai nian tie was derived from the Han dynasty’s name tag, men zhuang (門狀, „door opening“).
It is convenient for people to buy gifts for their New Year visits as well as their home decorations at these markets. These usually open-air markets feature New Year–related products such as flowers, toys, clothing, and even fireworks and firecrackers. Common gifts include fruits (especially oranges, but never pears), cakes, biscuits, chocolates, and candies. In addition to red envelopes, typically given from older individuals to younger ones, small gifts such as food or sweets are exchanged between friends or relatives from different households during Chinese New Year. With the demon vanquished, peace returned to the village, and in gratitude, the elders bestowed upon the courageous young man a red envelope filled with money as a token of appreciation for his valor and for freeing the village from the demon’s menace. When the sui was going to reach out and touch the child’s head, the pillow suddenly brightened with the golden light, and the sui was scared away, so the exorcism effect of „red paper wrapped copper money“ spread in China (see also Chinese numismatic charms).
In Taiwan in the 2000s, some employers also gave red packets as a bonus to maids, nurses, or domestic workers from Southeast Asian countries, although whether this is appropriate is controversial. Incense, tea, fruits, vegetarian food or roasted pig, and gold paper are served as customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person. While large firework displays are popular in some places, Taiwan tends to focus more on temple visits, lantern-lighting ceremonies, and family reunions.citation needed ‚Spring Festival‘ is the standard and official term; people in Taiwan typically do not use „Spring Festival“ in daily conversations.
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One of the key celebrations is the Chinese New Year parade with floats and fireworks taking place along the streets in Chinatown, Manhattan, the largest Chinese New Year parade outside Asia. However, even smaller cities that are historically connected with Chinese immigration, such as Butte, Montana, have recently hosted parades. The common activities are the lion dance, dragon dance, New Year market, and food festival. The festival in Sydney is organized in partnership with a different Chinese province each year. The festival also attracts international media coverage, reaching millions of viewers in Asia.
The beast is said to have terrorised people every year, until he was defeated due to his fear of red, loud noises and fire. Primarily in traditional Chinese culture, the colour red originates from the myth of a monster called Nian. This is why many people clean their homes before the celebrations, as many clean to remove any misfortune or bad luck lingering ahead of the new year. The 15-day festival is about saying goodbye to the past year and, like the season of spring itself, symbolises renewal. This is because it marks the beginning of the spring season and the end of winter in the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. While celebrations and traditions take place annually, the exact date of the Lunar New Year changes every year as it begins with the arrival of a new moon, which signifies the start of a new month.
If in the previous year a death was experienced in the family, seven dishes are served. Most reunion dinners also feature a communal hot pot, as it is believed to signify the coming together of the family members for the meal. Nowadays, single women write their contact numbers on mandarin oranges and throw them into a river or a lake, after which single men collect the oranges and eat them.
Chinese New Year Traditions & Celebrations
(If you haven’t prepared your own “gou” yet, here’s an easy recipe for radish cake, a beloved Lunar New Year dish.) That means eating these treats is believed to lead to improvements and growth in the coming year. This is why wearing the fiery color, along with hanging banners and lighting firecrackers or fireworks, are Lunar New Year traditions, all of which are still followed today. The man claimed to have scared Nian away by hanging red banners on his door, lighting firecrackers and donning red clothing. According to the legend, every Lunar New Year’s Eve this ferocious underwater beast with sharp teeth and horns would crawl onto the land and attack a nearby village.
Dates in the Chinese lunisolar calendar
And every year, a heavenly stem (one of five elements, which fall into the yin or yang category) is paired with an earthly branch (one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals). Marking the first new moon of the lunar calendar, it falls on February 17 in 2026, kicking off the 15-day Spring Festival. Chinese New Year is not just one day but over 30 days of festivities and activities, which have their own calendar.
Lunar New Year’s Eve: The Reunion Dinner
Children born in the last lunar calendar year were Snakes, while those born on or after the Lunar New Year in 2027 will be Goats, and so on. Lunar New Year, widely considered the most important event of the year in China and Chinese communities around the planet, is nearly here. Keep in mind that different regions and minorities may celebrate the days on different dates, or have different names or practices for certain days. Each day of the 16-day-long festival has a name, and usually an assigned purpose or meaning. In the Chinese tradition, a person’s birth year—rather than their birth month—is considered key to understanding character and fortune. Many traditional dishes served during this festival reflect wishes for prosperity, health, and longevity.
San Gabriel hosts an annual Chinese Gala at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse in addition to its street festival. Neighboring Alhambra has also hosted a large festival since 1993 with many performances and street vendors. Monterey Park puts on the largest of such festivals, occupying 5 blocks in the city and attracting over 100,000 individuals. The Little Saigon area has hosted Tet celebrations since 1982 for its Chinese and Vietnamese communities.
Since Chinese New Year falls on different days of the week each year, the governments of some of these countries choose to adjust working days to create a longer public holiday. New Year’s celebrations continued under the Yuan dynasty, when people also gave nian gao (年糕, „year cakes“) to relatives. It is believed that placing the couplets on the door to the home in the days preceding the new year was widespread during the Song dynasty. The Chunlian (Spring Couplets) was written by Meng Chang, an emperor of the Later Shu (935–965 AD), during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period：“新年納餘慶，嘉節號長春“ („Enjoying past legacies in the new year, the holiday foreseeing the long-lasting spring“). Eventually, men zhuang became a symbol of good luck, and people started sending them to friends on New Year’s Day, calling them by a new name, bai nian tie. During the Jin dynasty (266–420), people started the New Year’s Eve tradition of all-night revelry called shousui (守歲).