Lunar New Year

Happy Lunar New Year! Did you know it’s the year of the water tiger according to the zodiac calendar? Today marks the first day of the Lunar New Year celebrations! I want to start off by wishing each and every one of you a strong, healthy, happy, prosperous year filled with great wealth, good health, and all the joy the world has to offer.

Welcome to the diaries of the GoGreenDress!

To start off my first blog I’d like to share a little bit of information regarding this holiday. Did you know this holiday is celebrated in over 10 countries? Although many know this holiday to be Chinese New Year, it is an important holiday for Vietnamese, Koreans, Mongolians, Filipinos, Tibetans, Malaysians, Indonesians, Brunei, and more.

In some countries, Lunar New Year is celebrated for 15 days! During this special holiday, families spend time with one another, eat, laugh, dance, sing, and be merry. Various countries have different traditions like the tossing of the noodles (Yu Sheng Lo Hei) in Singapore and Malaysia to signify prosperity, abundance, and fortune depending on how high the ingredients fly. Visiting religious institutions like temples, pagodas, and churches to pray and ask for your new years’ blessings and fortune is a popular activity amongst many.

You’ll notice red lanterns is a very popular decoration during this time of the year. Some believe that lanterns are used to help your ancestors find their way home while others believe they help ward off evil. Another way to protect you from any evil spirits during the Lunar New Year is loud noises like fireworks and drums. Hence during this special holiday, you’ll notice a lot of firecrackers, fireworks, loud music, drums, and dancing occurring. In Tibet, individuals wear ornate masks and perform special dances to help ward off evil while performances in many countries are done by the dragon and lion dances on the streets and in front of various businesses, homes, and temples.

Many families and individuals spend weeks leading up to the big holiday preparing their home and purchasing supplies, new clothing, and items for decoration. Since it is taboo to clean, cook or work during the Lunar New Year, all of these tasks must be completed prior to the first day of the year. Your house should be spic and span so that you don’t have to start the new year cleaning which is believed to remove all your luck and good fortune. Cooking is something that should be done in advance to avoid a year of laboring; same with work. Other superstitions include but are not limited to: no showering, no fighting, and no haircuts.

What you do during the new year is believed to set the tone for the rest of the year, many of these activities are avoided. It is definitely encouraged that you take part in a lot of laughter, joy, visit loved ones, and remain as happy and positive as possible during this time.

If you are planning on visiting family and friends, you can show up with a basket of fruits as certain fruit can bring good fortune and great blessings to the family or individuals receiving the gift. Fruits that are round like clementine, mandarins, oranges, watermelon, pomelo, soursop, custard apples, persimmons, and papaya are greatly encouraged. The shape of the frutst represents completeness which can mean family. Round shapes are also related to gold since gold coins are round which stands for prosperity and wealth.

I hope this article has given you more perspective on the Lunar New Year.

Thank you for reading and Chúc Mừng Năm Mới from me to you.