Chinese New Year also known as the Spring Festival (春节) is a festival celebrating the start of the new year on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. Chinese New Year 2024 falls on Saturday, February 10th. Celebrating Chinese New Year focuses on worship, erasing the bad things of the previous year, and welcoming the new year better.
Chinese New Year traditions have been around for generations. During the celebration, many things are usually done, such as cleaning the house, wearing red clothes, eating with the family, lighting firecrackers, red envelopes, decorating the house, watching lion dance performances, and many more. Here are 5 traditions for celebrating Chinese New Year with your family!
1. Clean and Decorate the House
Chinese New Year/Photo: pexels.com/angela roma
Welcoming preparations for Chinese New Year, cleaning the house is one of the main traditions carried out by every family to ward off evil spirits and welcome the start of the new year.
After the house has been cleaned, continue decorating the house with bright colors that symbolize good luck. You can put red lanterns, red paper carvings, flower decorations, New Year paintings, kumquat trees, or you can also reuse red Christmas decorations and leave the red lights on the Christmas tree on throughout Chinese New Year.
2. Giving Offerings to the Ancestors
Presentation/Photo: pexels.com/dương nhân
Honoring people who have passed away is a Chinese New Year tradition that must be preserved. Many Chinese people come to visit the graves of their ancestors one day before the Chinese New Year celebrations to make offerings such as fruit, meat, wine, incense and joss paper which are usually placed in front of the temple, meaning to let their ancestors 'eat' first.
3. Enjoy Dinner
Eating together/Photo: pexels.com/angela roma
Dinner before Chinese New Year is mandatory, the gathering of all family members. Chinese people usually try hard to hold family events even if they have to travel long distances.
Dishes with auspicious meanings should be included in the presentation on the table such as dumplings, fish, spring rolls, and other foods that have symbolic properties during Chinese New Year celebrations.
4. Give Red Envelopes
Giving envelopes/Photo: pexels.com/angela roma
One of the most popular Chinese traditions is giving red envelopes from parents and relatives to children. Money and red envelopes are believed to bring good luck and are therefore called lucky money. Apart from containing money, there are also envelopes filled with chocolate coins or goods.
You need to know, avoid filling envelopes with money that has a nominal value of 4 (140 thousand, 440 thousand, or 400 thousand). It is said that the number 4 is believed to be the number of disaster or death. Giving odd amounts of money is also not allowed because it is considered bad luck.
5. Watch a parade or lion dance
Lion dance performance/Photo: pexels.com/elina sazonova
It wouldn't be complete when celebrating Chinese New Year without watching a lion dance or parade, right? Reporting from the Parents page, people usually gather to watch live Chinese New Year performances because it is considered to bring good luck and prosperity. Watch a lion dance performance complete with drum, lin and jik musical instruments which makes the performance even more lively.
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