The Lunar New Year Festival is a celebration of new beginnings and spending time with the family. The festival takes place all over China, and it is a national public holiday. Festivities run for 2 weeks, with the holiday ending with the Lantern Festival. This time is known as the Spring Festival Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea. There are many Chinese New Years traditions and superstitions. For example, it is customary to thoroughly clean houses before the start of the new year, called “sweeping of the grounds” to remove any bad luck. Specific foods are cooked to bring good luck as well. Fireworks are used to ward off evil spirits and bad luck. Children receive lucky money in red envelopes.
Here are some things you can do at home to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Clean & organize!
It’s a tradition to clean before the Lunar New Year and use feng shui good luck tips. Cleaning house may not seem like the most joyous of traditions, but as a ritual, it sets the tone for the new year to start fresh.
Cook!
Decorate..
Red & gold are the colors of the New Year. Put up red lanterns or have the kids draw ox/cows. You can even make them out of paper plates. There are great ideas on Pinterest for making paper lanterns & other family-friendly crafts. You can also place lucky fruits on the counter.
Throw a birthday party.
The seventh day of the Chinese New Year called renri, is considered “everybody’s birthday.” According to Chinese legend, Nuwa was the goddess who created the world. She had already created certain animals, but was lonesome so on the 7th day she created human beings from yellow clay. Since the Han dynasty, it’s been a tradition for people to celebrate their “birthday” on the seventh day of the new year. Many of us have had to skip celebrating birthdays and anniversaries due to COVID, so why not?
Want to learn more about Chinese culture? China tours are available, and you can take advantage of early booking deals as well as flexible cancellation options.
