Why does Chinese New Year fall on different dates? Rather than following the western Gregorian Calendar with 365-day years, the Chinese New Year follows a lunar calendar based the moon's 12 phases. The best Chinese New Year traditions to celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Snake in 2025. As an Asian-American, the Chinese or Lunar New Year was always a great time of (like 28 and 89). Restaurants are closed, but leading up to the New Year, tuck into heaping plates of dumplings (饺子, jiao zi)—which sounds like 交子 (jiāo zi); the second symbol, 交 (jiao) means "exchange On Jan. 29, Asian American communities around the U.S. will ring in the Year of the Snake with community carnivals, family gatherings, parades, traditional food, fireworks and other festivities The Lunar New Year feast is one of the highlights, with Chinese families traditionally holding a grand reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve. Similar to turkeys for Thanksgiving in the U.S., certain dishes like fish (symbolizing surplus), rice cakes (symbolizing progress), eight-treasure rice pudding (symbolizing wealth from all directions), and Much like the celebration of the new year in the United States, Chinese New Year focuses on good fortune for the year to come. As a custom, married couples give red packages with money enclosed in them to children and unmarried adults for good luck, and many wear the color red to ward off ill fortune in the coming year. A Time to Reunite with Family. To celebrate their New Year, Westerners usually go out to parties with friends or other large public events. In contrast, the New Year is the biggest chance for Chinese families to reunite (similar to how families get together for Christmas). For this reason, organizations might call Chinese New Year the “Lunar New Year.”) In the Chinese lunisolar calendar, months begin with every new moon, when the moon is not visible in the night sky. The new year starts on the new moon nearest the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, sometime between January 21 and Li, Wendy. “A Chinese-American New Year.” Undergraduate Student Blog (blog), February 21, 2015. Lu, Katie. “Between Two Worlds for Chinese New Year.” YR Media, January 22, 2020. Parkinson, Rhonda. “Chinese New Year Recipes.” The Spruce Eats, January 21, 2020. Sangalang, Janelle. “Q&A: How Do Chinese American Students Celebrate Lunar New Year celebrations can last up to 15 days, starting on the new moon between late January and mid-February. The exact date varies each year based on the lunar calendar. The new year begins This year, Chinese New Year begins on Wednesday, January 29. Those who celebrate will be entering the year of the snake. Just like with any holiday, traditions abound for Chinese New Year. Some of CHINESE NEW YEAR . Unlike the American New Year celebration, the Chinese New Year will be celebrated on February 16, 2018 and marks the beginning of a new lunar according to the traditional Chinese calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar. The yearly Chinese holiday is known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival. Korean New Year is NOT the same as Chinese New Year. But it is similar. And everyone has a tendency to refer to the Lunar New Year as Chinese New Year. Although, it’s no wonder because China has the world’s largest population! Not to mention that the traditions of Chinese New Year are just fun with dragon dances, fireworks, and the like! Simply put, Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year are not the same. Despite being related, there are a few noteworthy differences between the two. Read on to find out what they are. The Differences between Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year 1. "Chinese New Year" is specific while "Lunar New Year" is more general. The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year as it occurs on the first new moon of the lunar calendar , celebrates renewal, family, and cultural traditions. From the vibrant red decorations to the symbolic foods, the holiday is a time for reflection and connection. The best Chinese New Year greeting in Cantonese is “sun neen fai lok” (新年快樂), which means Happy New Year. You can also say kung hei fat choi (恭喜發財) which wishes wealth, and “sun tai geen hong” (身體健康) for good health. Jan. 22–28, 2025: New Year Shopping. Before Chinese New Year's Eve, people buy New Year's food and snacks, New Year's decorations, and New Year's clothes, fireworks, etc. Chinese New Year in China, like Christmas, is a boom time for shopping. Legend (one that came after Chinese New Year came to be) has it that, during Chinese New Year, a monster named Nian (or year) used to go to the villages once a year to eat livestock and children, and that the only way to banish this monster was through red-colored objects and loud noises. This sheds some light on the traditions explained below. To cut short, it seems like the main difference between the Japanese New Year and Chinese New Year for this aspect is that the Japanese start giving Otoshidama to younger relatives when they start a full-time job and the Chinese start giving red packets to younger relatives when they are married. 3. New Year’s Eve
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