This year, the Chinese New Year 2023, will fall on Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 and end on February 5th, 2023. The Chinese New Year is celebrated for 16 days. Wait, can I still say Chinese New Year, or should I say Lunar New Year, Spring Festival, or something else? With the intention of being inclusive, what should this Holiday be called? So, Should We Call It "Chinese New Year" or "Lunar New Year"? In a casual conversation, there is no problem using the two terms interchangeably. Either way, whether you refer to it as the Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year, as long as no intentional offense is meant, it is safe to say that almost everyone will just be happy to share and State-run news agency Xinhua, for instance, hailed the celebration of “Chinese Lunar New Year” in Myanmar, Malaysia and Japan, emphasizing the use of “Chinese red” in decorations. But generalizing Lunar New Year as Chinese New Year is more than just saying the wrong word and using the wrong name. It is indicative of the much repeated pattern of a diverse and multicultural society trying to group seemingly similar cultures in attempts to simplify the task of understanding the many types of people in a community. Some call this holiday "Lunar New Year", as it reflects the start of an annual cycle determined by the moon's orbit of Earth. Others call this celebration "Chinese New Year" based on an argument that the holiday originated in China under its lunisolar calendar. However, other Asian cultures also celebrate holidays at this time of year. Many Chinese social media users in China saw red when bubble tea brand Chagee used the term "Lunar New Year". Read more at straitstimes.com. Chinese New Year (let’s call it that to begin with) is the celebration of the start of the traditional Chinese calendar. In China, observances start on the eve of the first day of the year and continue until the 15th day of the new year, which is also known as the Lantern Festival. As you’d expect, no one in China actually calls it “Chinese New Year”; they either call the festivities Spring Festival or Lunar New Year. It’s a bit like how no one in China calls it Chinese food. Some countries, like Singapore and the US, call it “Chinese New Year” because the largest segment of their Asian population is Chinese. Some people argue that we should call the festival Lunar New Year rather than the Chinese New Year as it is more global and less culturally specific. Mine is a different discussion. 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 Let me pull out an interesting sentence for you: The Lunar New Year celebrations of the East Asian cultural sphere occur on the same date across the region, on the new moon, which occurs in late January or early February, and are based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar. Indian calendars are also lunar, but they don’t celebrate the new year on that date. Some provinces in India celebrate the new year on March 22. Tamils celebrate it in mid April. The Sikkimese new year falls on December 13 of this year. The official hindu new year is Diwali, celebrated this year on November 12. Happy tet. Happy Chunjie. Happy seollal etc. If u and the recipient are of different culture, its best to say both. Happy korean new year and chinese new year! “Happy lunar new year” should be ok too, but now its associated with intention of not wanting to say “happy chinese new year” so some chinese people might not like hearing it. Lunar New Year is all encompassing, a way to acknowledge other new years, not just the Chinese one. There is also Japanese New Year, Korean New Year, Japanese New Year, Tibetan New Year, and Mongolian New Year, and they are all on the same day as Chinese New Year. Edit: Why the downvotes? I didn't pull this out of nowhere. This is from Wikipedia. But in general, I’ve seen so many people try to undermine validity of ethnic Chinese people calling the holiday “Chinese new year,” saying that “people in China don’t call it Chinese new year” or that “attaching a nationality/ethnicity to a holiday excludes other ethnicities and is offensive to other Asians.” Most people would say Lunar New Year to mean Chinese New Year. I’d say we have enough Vietnamese population to make “Lunar New Year” slightly more “correct”/inclusive but there’s nothing incorrect about “Chinese New Year”. We can give it to one another while reminding each other that success comes from the Lord (Psalm 75:6). As for Chinese New Year goodies such as barbecued pork, pineapple tarts (pineapple is called “ong lai” which means “may good luck come to our homes”), melon seeds, fizzy drinks, to name a few, let us remember to give thanks, enjoy them and eat them in moderation (1 Corinthians 10:31). 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. Yeah grew up knowing it's Chinese New year and everywhere the short form is CNY. Also well known in Singapore each ethnicity gets 2 days of public holidays. Kelly, 22, who is originally from Hong Kong, says she was left "feeling different" at work, as she found it challenging to explain the importance of the Lunar New Year in her London workplace.
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