It’s also common practice throughout New Year celebrations for younger generations to honor their elders and wish them a long life. A Vietnamese ritual for Lunar New Year involves burning incense and inviting ancestors to join in with the celebrations. They go there to pray for good luck, place food offerings, and burn incense for the gods and ancestors. Many families visit temples during Lunar New Year. The Vietnamese community in Orange County, California, hosts a big annual Tet Festival. In the United States, San Francisco’s and New York City’s Chinatowns hold big festivals. Larger expat communities across the globe have similar celebrations, especially in big cities. In Vietnam, parades feature the Mua Lan, a hybrid lion, dragon, and unicorn that’s a symbol of strength. These noises are to ward off evil spirits, which is called “nian” in Mandarin. Many communities hold these public celebrations, which usually involve participants and viewers making lots of noise in the street with firecrackers, gongs, drums, and bells.
Dances, parades, and street partiesĪ symbol of Lunar New Year somewhat familiar worldwide is that of a vibrant, lively parade with dragon dances and lion dances, acrobats, masked dancers, and other folk pageantry. “Although it may not feel as festive as it is in Asia, we still try to celebrate by the most intuitive way we know and that is through food,” Michelle says. Companies close for days, families travel home, and gifts (in the form of money stuffed in a red envelope) are passed out to children.”Įach tradition, she adds, is meant to symbolize and “bring upon good fortune, health, and prosperity for the new year to come.”Ī major way that she maintains traditions from her home country is to recreate beloved holiday dishes. Michelle explains, “similar to Christmas in western countries, the Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday of the culture. Some first-generation Chinese Americans, like Michelle, a lifestyle blogger, feel that it can be difficult to celebrate Lunar New Year when living abroad since the festivities are not as elaborately celebrated outside China. In addition, avoid borrowing or lending money during the 15 days of celebration, as doing either is believed to lead to struggles with money in the year ahead.Asian immigrants have found new ways to celebrate when they’re far from their home country. It’s considered important to pay off all debts before the first day of the Lunar New Year. Using knives and scissors on the first day of the Lunar New Year symbolises cutting away your wealth, so prepare your meals the day before to avoid this.Ħ. It is believed that pouring away water after washing clothes invokes pouring your wealth away.ĥ.
Don’t wash your clothes on the first and second day of the New Year, as these two days are celebrated as the birthday of the God of Water, and washing clothes is regarded as disrespectful. Taking out garbage symbolises dumping good luck and fortune from your home.Ĥ. Don’t clean! Sweeping on New Year’s Day is associated with sweeping wealth away. The Chinese word for “book” (书, shū) sounds the same as the word for “lose”, so buying a book right after ringing in the New Year is considered an invitation for bad luck.ģ. This means washing or cutting it off is seen as washing your good fortune away and dramatically reduces chances of prosperity in the year ahead.Ģ. The Chinese character for hair (发, fa) is the same word in ‘prosper’. Avoid cutting or washing your hair on the first day of the New Year.
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