Lunar New Year Traditions
BY AVA RODRIGUEZ AND AIDEN RODRIGUEZ — Staff Writers
The Lunar New Year is a 15-day celebration of welcoming the new year based on the moon’s phases. This holiday is celebrated all around Asia, and is the most popular holiday in China.
New Year Cleaning & Decorating
To prepare for the new year, it is tradition to do some cleaning around the house in order to get rid of ill-fortune from the year before and to make room for good fortune in the coming year. Many people decorate their homes with objects that are the color red, the luckiest color, and main color of the Lunar New Year. This includes paper cuttings, flowers, and lanterns.
Zodiac Animals
Zodiac animals originated from ancient Chinese folklore. There are twelve animals in total, and are said to have been chosen through a swimming race. The first twelve animals to swim across the river had a year of the zodiac named after them. 2023 is the year of the rabbit, the fourth in the twelve year cycle. The zodiac cycle is as follows: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
Parades
Parades are traditional when welcoming the new year. They often have dragon dances, where performers dressed in dragon costumes dance. Dragons symbolize wisdom, power, wealth, and luck. There are also different color dragons with different meanings. Green symbolizes great harvest, yellow symbolizes respect, gold and silver represent prosperity, and red represents excitement. Along with dragon dances, lion dances are also very popular.
Red Envelopes
Red envelopes filled with money are gifts given to young children on the Lunar New Year and other special occasions. Surprisingly, it’s not the money inside that is significant, it’s the paper, since it symbolizes good luck and happiness. This tradition was started because of the legend of Sui, a demon who came to frighten children during the night. Children would place red envelopes containing eight coins under their pillows so Sui would be unable to harm them. The coins were said to be fairies that protected them.
