Lunar New year, often known as the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, is the most important holiday in China and many Asian communities, such as Vietnamese and Korean. It’s an annual 15-day festival that begins with the new moon and lasts until the following full moon. The holiday is a time for feasting and celebrating while honoring deities and ancestors. There’s plenty of food that range from region and family recipes. Northern Chinese cuisine tend to have dumplings and noodles while southern Chinese meals include many rice cakes. Traditionally in China, “hong bao” are small red envelopes containing money that are given to children, family, friends, and employees as symbols of good luck. Red is associated with energy, happiness, and good fortune. Fireworks are set off to mark the new year and ward off monsters. According to legend, Nian, a hideous beast that lived in the bottom of the sea and would go to shore on the last day of the Lunar New year to terrorize villages and feast on human flesh. In retaliation, the villagers would attack the beast and found that the color red, loud noises, and fire warded Nian off. Since then red paper decorations are pasted everywhere, lanterns burn all night, and fireworks are set off in tradition. The last day of the New Year is known as the Festival of Lanterns which marks the end of the celebrations. All type of lanterns are lighted throughout the the streets with poems and riddles.
As the year of the Rabbit comes to a close, people are welcoming the year of the Dragon. Every year, a heavenly stern (one of five elements that fall in line with yin or yang) is paired with an earthly branch (one of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals.) This year combines the heavenly stem Jia, which represents yang wood, and the earthly branch Chen, which represents the Dragon. That makes this year the Year of the Wood Dragon. In Chinese culture, the Dragon holds a significant place as an auspicious and extraordinary creature, unparalleled in talent and excellence. It symbolizes power, nobility, honor, luck, and success. 2024 is forecasted to bring about new opportunities, changes, and challenges. This year will offer favorable chances for shifts in daily life.
