Lunar New Year, a holiday that relies on the lunisolar calendar, has been around for more than three thousand years and is celebrated by many different cultures. In Vietnam, the Lunar New Year is called Tết, while in Korea, a common name for it is Seollal.
In China, the Lunar New Year is referred to as Chūnjié which translates to Spring Festival. Chūnjié is also sometimes called 过年, guò nián, which refers to an old Chinese myth that founded many Lunar New Year traditions.
According to the legend, there was a beast called Nián—which has the same pinyin spelling as ‘year’— that terrorized villagers in Ancient China. Every New Year’s Eve, he would attack people and farm animals. To drive him away, a villager set off firecrackers and drove Nián away with the color red. From then on, villagers would hang up red papers, set off firecrackers, and wear red clothes. The legend ends with Nián hiding away, but not completely gone.
Another prominent tradition in China is giving out hóngbāo, which are red envelopes with money inside. Coincidentally, the history of red envelopes also begins with a legend. Besides Nián, there was also a demon named Sui (岁), a term related to age. Sui would target sleeping children on New Year’s Eve. To ward the demon away, one family gave their child eight coins to play with so he wouldn’t fall asleep. However, their plan didn’t work; the child fell asleep, but when Sui came, the coins reflected a strong light, scaring him away. Each coin was believed to be one of the Eight Immortals.
But, passing out hóngbāo is not a careless process. Red envelopes are supposed to be given to children and sometimes young adults who aren’t married. The money in the envelope must be new and completely spotless. Additionally, red envelopes are supposed to not carry amounts with fours in them, such as 400 yuan. In Mandarin, four (sì) sounds like the word death, sǐ.
Besides four, other even numbers are seen as lucky. In the modern day, hóngbāo can be given over social media apps like WeChat. This allows relatives who are separated by continents to celebrate with each other and participate in century-old traditions.
The Chinese Zodiac Calendar is based on an old folk story as well. A long time ago, the Jade Emperor wanted a way to measure time. So, he asked all the animals to participate in a race where the first twelve would have a year named after each of them. The animals who ended up reaching the riverbank first were (in this order): the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, and the pig. This year, the zodiac animal is the snake, the sixth animal. In 2032, the calendar will circle back again, and it will be the year of the rat.
There are also a couple of lesser-known traditions, such as shǒu suì, where people will stay awake all night. Another tradition is watching the CMG New Year Gala. The New Year Gala is an event broadcast on New Year’s Eve. It features new music, dances, and skits. Its first run was in 1983, and it has been going on annually ever since.
“Each year, my family gets a different type of herb, then we make some type of steam herb water thing, and we bathe in it. [We do it] once a year and the herbs represent what our whole year is going to be like,” sophomore L. Zeng said.
Superstitions are also a big part of LNY. One common superstition is not sweeping the house or cleaning the first day of the new year. Cleaning is warned against because it is believed that you’ll be sweeping away your good luck. Another superstition is not wearing black or white. Black is seen as a symbol of death and grief. On the other hand, it’s considered luck-bringing to wear red.
“I don’t believe in any superstitions, but my mom says to not get clocks or watches as gifts because they can be seen as a countdown to bad things,” freshman Sarah Qiu said.
Lunar New Year is a holiday based on hundreds of years of history. Although there are many popular traditions, everybody celebrates differently. The holiday marks a new year on the lunisolar calendar and each year has new surprises in store.
