Our Favorite Lunar New Year Memories

What is Lunar New Year?

Lunar New Year, also called Spring Festival, is the most important holiday in China. The festival is also celebrated in Vietnam (where it's known as Tet), North and South Korea (where it's known as Solnal). In 2022, Lunar New Year will begin on February 1st. Lunar New Year begins with the first new moon of the year and ends with the full moon fifteen days later.

The Chinese Zodiac is a continuous cycle of 12 years, where each year is represented by an animal. Each zodiac sign is attributed to certain characteristics. Depending on the year ahead, certain attributes such as health and romance will be “influenced”.

There are 12 zodiac signs and the order goes like this: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Each animal has its own unique characteristics.
Interestingly, the Chinese Zodiac came about when the Jade Emperor wanted to select 12 animals to be his guards. He proclaimed that the earlier one arrived, the better rank one would have. Therefore the order of zodiac signs that we know now was supposedly the order in which the animals arrived. Well, this is all ancient mythical history.

Why is Lunar New Year important?

Lunar New Year’s importance is rooted deep in history, and today remains the most important occasion for generations of families to reunite and spend time together.
As many Chinese families may be separated due to career choices, education opportunities, and general urbanization, this festival serves as the prime opportunity for everyone to gather.

The celebration is also believed to be significant to ensure good fortune for the coming year and has many religious traditions and beliefs that hold value.

Almost everybody except essential workers will have a week-long holiday in the Lunar New Year.

James S Cho

South Korea

Lunar New Year is probably one of the most special holidays in South Korea. The Lunar New Year starts with a rice cake soup. It is also called Tteokguk and consists of broth with a thinly sliced rice cake with seaweed and egg. Our family is one of those households that starts the new year with soup. One of the reasons why Lunar New Year is special for me specifically is because I could meet my far relatives who lived in rural places. This is one of the few days I could meet my cousins and my uncle. I could get some life advice from my uncle, and spend time with my cousins who share similar interests as me. But, the best part was probably the new year's traditional bow. The non-adults of the family should give a new year’s bow to the adults, and in return, adults give the pocket money back.
Thank you and Happy Lunar New Year!

Rui Wang

China

In Shanghai, during the Lunar new year, there will be a lantern fair in the City god temple of shanghai which is a famous Ming Dynasty Jiangnan garden. The temple would be decorated with lanterns and lights. There are some traditional snacks for sale at that period of time. The gardens are very lively on New Year's Eve, with people walking around and visiting. My family and I will also go to feel the taste of New Year, and give everybody our best wishes on Lunar New Year’s Eve.

Zi Wang

The Lunar New Year is one of the most important festivals in China.In the New Year, we eat dumplings. We often make dumplings. Several people sat around the table. On the table are meat foam and dumpling wrapper.; In some areas in China they usually put one or two coins into the dumplings. People who eat dumplings with coins will have good luck all year round.We often go during the New Year to pay New Year greetings to their relatives, and adults also give red envelopes to children.In the New Year we wear new clothes.

China

Jerry (Ruogu) Li

In Chinese cultures, people celebrate the New Year in the Lunar Calendar. Every year, the date of the Lunar New Year is different in the Solar Calendar which is the calendar that most people use, even most Chinese people use. For me and my family, we usually gather in my Grandparents’ house, and have dinner together the day before the Lunar New Year. At noon of the day, we prepare the food for dinner, and almost hand make everything possible. The typical required food is probably the hand made dumplings. I really enjoy it because I can make it whatever way I like, meaning I get to decide what’s inside the dumpling with the ones that I make. Many people believe in the idea of fate, what they do is, they would even put coins into some of the dumplings and mix them in the pot while boiling them, so when the whole family eats them, whoever eats the most dumplings with coins in it, we would consider that person to be the one who can make a million in the New Year. In my family, instead of putting coins, grandma puts nuts in it, and it basically means the same thing, but it also can mean the ability to stay very healthy. Usually, we also watch a show that night after dinner. It’s a TV show that most people would watch for Chinese New Year if they have a TV. We wait until 0:00 for the count down for the New Year on the TV. After all the celebrations, adults would give children packs of money as a gift to encourage them to keep the good work. Eventually, we would take a picture of the entire family before we depart.
I value our Lunar New Year, because I get to see all of my family members especially my cousins. It’s very interesting to see people change, because you wouldn’t even realize how much change you’ve made to yourself within a year, unless you either record what has happened to yourself, or let someone else you haven’t seen for a long time that you think is worth to trust to tell you. Generally, I would say it’s been very good memories every year celebrating it.

China

Yunxin Nie

As a girl raised in a traditional Chinese family, in the past every Lunar New Year I went back to my mom's hometown to visit my grandparents and great grandparents. They live in a small city called Qinhuangdao, which locates in Northern China. Following the Northern China traditions of Lunar New Year, my great grandparents invite all their children for the family reunion dinner, we eat our own handmade dumplings, most common stuffing of the dumplings are shrimp, chives, and pork-stuffed (3 ingredients); celery and pork-stuffed (2 ingredients), and pure vegan dumplings. After the reunion dinner, the entire family sit together and watch the annual TV program called "Spring Festival Gala Evening" which all the Chinese celebrities ranging from famous idols to experienced artists, and people from all walks of life gather together presenting a variety shows to us, such as music, dance, sketch and Chinese traditional cross talk. Watching "Spring Festival Gala Evening" has been a ritual every Lunar New Year eve for every Chinese family since 1983. As for me, the meaning of Lunar new year is more about cherishing the time with our family. Now some of my most beloved family members have passed away, but the memory of us sharing our time during Spring Festival-the coziest time of each year-will last forever.

China

Wei Wang

China

Last January, I returned to my familiar hometown. Chinese New Year's Eve evening, my parents and I went to a big restaurant, my grandparents, cousins, newborn sister and my great grandpa were waiting for me there, as soon as we met, we greeted each other warmly, my grandparents asked me how I was doing this year, and whether the grades were good that year, that night, we ordered a table of dishes, with great fishes, pork and beers. At last, we back at the midnight, everyone was very happy.
My dad went home very drunk and carried by me. The next day we didn’t get up until noon.

Dang Vu Tran

Vietnam

Chinese New Year is a big holiday not only for China, as many people think, but also for many countries in Asia, for example Vietnam, where my parents came from. Despite the fact that my family lives in Moscow, we still try to celebrate Chinese New Year. At this time, we all gather with all relatives and friends for dinner. Traditionally, adults give children money in red envelopes as a gift. The essence of this holiday for me is to gather the whole family and have fun.