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.
Day 5: Welcoming the God of Wealth
But if you have ever heard of the Lantern Festival, it’s important to note that there is a distinction between the events. But you may have noticed that it doesn’t occur on this exact date every year. The term Chinese New Year is commonly used; however, Lunar New Year has become more widely used as an inclusive term to represent the various nations that also celebrate at the same time of year. Centred around removing the old and bad and welcoming the good and new for the year ahead, many communities and cultures have both similar and different traditions. Celebrated across Asia and beyond, the Lunar New Year sees numerous events and festivities taking place worldwide. We looked around and settled in China Xian Tour due to their incredible efficiency.
This practice reflects the common desire among the Chinese people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new year, to rid themselves of past poverty and hardships, and to usher in a prosperous and auspicious life in the new year. As a substitute, large-scale fireworks displays have been sponsored by governments in Hong Kong and Singapore. While fireworks and firecrackers are traditionally very popular, some regions have banned them due to concerns over fire hazards. Business managers may also give bonuses in the form of red packets to employees.
What is Lunar New Year?
- We’ve mentioned a lot about the colour red in the celebrations and what it symbolises.
- Another long‑standing tradition is passing red envelopes, known as Hóngbāo, to friends and family.
- In more than 96 percent of years, the Chinese New Year is the closest new moon to the beginning of spring (lichun) according to the calendar.
- On the 28th day of the last lunar month, families do a thorough house cleaning to sweep away any lingering bad luck, making way for a fresh beginning.
- Your personal zodiac animal sign is determined by your year of birth, meaning 2026 will welcome plenty of baby Horses.
- They invited a variety of other groups from the city to participate, and they marched down what today are Grant Avenue and Kearny Street, carrying colourful flags, banners, lanterns, drums, and firecrackers to drive away evil spirits.
Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that the newly arrived good luck cannot be swept away. It is believed that the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and prepares homes for good luck. On the days immediately before the new year celebration, Chinese families give their homes a thorough cleaning. The porridge was prepared by the women of the household at first light, with the first bowl offered to the family’s ancestors and the household deities.
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).
Chinese New Year Calendar (1930 –
Because it marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year and coincides with the return of spring and the revival of all things, people name it “Spring Festival”. The name “Spring Festival” literally means a festival celebrating the arrival of spring. As one of the most important and distinctive traditional Chinese folk festivals, Chinese New Year carries rich cultural connotations and profound national emotions. Although Vietnam replaces the Rabbit with the Cat in its zodiac sequence, the Year of the Horse remains consistent across these cultures, underscoring shared cosmological heritage. These practices reflect the enduring symbolic association between the horse and swift achievement. The horse, delayed by helping others along the way, finished seventh – reinforcing cultural values of loyalty and benevolence.
- In the zodiac, they thrive in lively settings and are often seen as natural leaders and motivators.
- As this day is believed to be The Birthday of Che Kung, a deity worshipped in Hong Kong, worshippers go to Che Kung Temples to pray for his blessing.
- The 15-day festival is about saying goodbye to the past year and, like the season of spring itself, symbolises renewal.
- The preparation begins on the first of the Lunar Calendar and the celebration lasts until the 15th of the first month.
- Transportation during Chinese New Year, abbreviated as “Spring Festival travel rush”, is divided by the Spring Festival, with 15 days before the festival and 25 days after, for a total of 40 days.
- The monster was afraid of loud noises, bright lights, and the color red, so those things were used to chase the beast away.
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.
New Year’s Day: Family Visits
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.
It is one of the representatives of traditional Chinese snacks and is a spherical food made of glutinous rice flour. Eating dumplings is a unique way to express people’s wishes for blessings and good fortune during the end of the old year and the beginning of new year. Lantern Festival is famous for its Yuan Xiao (sweet rice balls), whose round shape symbolizes family unity and togetherness. It is best to choose bright, colorful, and warm Chinese New Year clothes, especially red clothes, because red symbolizes auspiciousness and festivity. It embodies the affection and nostalgia of more than one billion Chinese people.
The elders usually hope their kids will be healthy, happy and make progress in the coming year, so they will give red envelopes to them to pass blessings and good luck. Because in Chinese culture, red is the symbol of auspiciousness, joy and prosperity and it can drive out evil spirits and bring good lucks. There are too many people on the way, so the transportation department needs to make every effort to ensure that passengers can go home and come back safely. The reason is that China has a large population, and Chinese New Year is a traditional reunion festival. The festival food in south China is called Yuan Xiao or rice sweet dumpling. Eating rice cake during the Spring Festival symbolizes good luck, sweet life, and high prosperity every year.
(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 Ringospin Casino 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.
Although the Spring Festival is scheduled on the first day of the first lunar month, the activities during Chinese New Year are not limited to just that day. Nowadays, the Spring Festival is seen more as a crucial moment for family reunion and cultural inheritance. Chinese New Year (also called Spring Festival or Lunar New Year) is the most popular holiday in China and Chinese communities around the world. According to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, years were historically designated through a combination of the Ten Heavenly Stems and the Twelve Earthly Branches.
These yearly combinations are believed to influence the traits of the era and the people born in that year. Every year, a different animal is honoured based on the Chinese zodiac. In 2027, the celebrations will begin on Saturday, February 6, ushering in the Year of the Goat. For many families, the festival marks more than a change of date, but a cultural reset rooted in renewal, reunion and hope for the months ahead. Community carnivals, family gatherings, parades, traditional food, and fireworks will mark the Year of the Horse. A huge part of Asian culture is not just family and togetherness – but incredible food.
The remaining 14 days are usually only celebrated by ethnic Chinese families. In Indonesia, the first day of the Chinese New Year is recognized as a national holiday. In Singapore, Chinese New Year is officially a two-day public holiday and is accompanied by various festive activities. George Town, a Chinese-majority city, is known for its lively Chinese New Year celebrations that last until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day. Chinese New Year’s Eve is typically a half-day holiday in Malaysia, while Chinese New Year is a two-day public holiday.
Why are red decorations commonly used during the celebration?
Visitors will be showered with gifts after catching up over Lunar New Year treats. Bags are stocked with presents and fruits to give out at people’s homes. For instance, in some northern areas people tend to serve dumplings and noodles, whereas the south can’t live without steamed rice.
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.