Lunar New Year

About Lunar New Year

With roots in ancient China and tied to the lunar calendar, Lunar New Year is celebrated across East and Southeast Asia as well as in diaspora communities. Lunar New Year is a time to gather with family, honor ancestors, and celebrate with food and traditions. This year, Lunar New Year begins on February 10.

Lunar New Year Traditions

Lunar New Year is celebrated in a variety of ways across different cultures. 

In China, Lunar New Year is celebrated by cleaning to rid the house of the bad luck from the previous year and to make the house a welcoming place for good luck, decorating the home with red to symbolize joy and good fortune, and gathering for New Year’s Eve meal, the most important dinner of the year.

In Vietnam, Vietnamese New Year, Tết, celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar, and is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Tết celebrations start on the 1st day of Lunar calendar and usually lasts for at least three days. The first day of the New Year is reserved for parents to celebrate with their children. Children receive a red envelope with money in a tradition called mừng tuổi (happy age). The first visitor the family receives after the New Year indicates their fortune for the entire year so it's important for visitors to wait to be invited into a family's house before entering. Families decorate their homes with kumquat trees and a variety of flowers, travel to gather with family, and celebrate with fruit, rice cakes, and Mứt Tết, a snack made of sugar and dried fruit or seeds.

In Korea, Korean New Year, Seollal, is a traditional festival and national holiday which takes part over three days - the day before, the day of, and the day after the Korean New Year's Day. It is typically a family holiday where many return to their hometowns to celebrate. People often make their first visits to their elders, including parents, in-laws, uncles, aunts, and grandparents, where they perform the Sebae ritual, which is a deep traditional bow and saying, "saehae bok mani badeuseyo," which means "Please receive a lot of good fortune for the New Year." While in other countries, red envelopes are exchanged with money to celebrate the new year, in Korea, white and patterned envelopes are traditionally exchanged. During Seollal, everyone ages 1 additional year.

In Singapor, families celebrate the New Year by honoring their ancestors at temples, enjoy sticky rice cakes, pineapple tarts, or traditional raw fish salad, and visit the Chingay Parade.

In Malaysia, Lunar New Year welcomes spring with families gathering, celebrating with Yee sang (a salad dish), Nian gao (a rice flour cake), and mandarin oranges. Red envelopes, ang pow, are exchanged, and traditional clothing such as cheongsam or qipao are worn.

In Taiwan, Lunar New Year is celebrated by gathering with family, making food such as Nian gao (dumplings), pineapple, and fish. Red envelopes are also exchanged.

In the Philippines, Lunar New Year is celebrated with a traditional midnight meal called Media Noche complete with round-shaped fruits. People jump up in the air at midnight, as tradition goes it will make them taller, and wear polka dots for prosperity and good fortune. Families come together and enjoy other traditional dishes such as sticky rice or long noodles.

To read more about the history of Lunar New Year and these traditions, visit Lunar New Year 2023 and How Lunar New Year is Celebrated Around Asia.