What You Need To Know About The Chinese New Year | Asian Blog

What You Need To Know About The Chinese New Year

New Year has already passed, but in Asia, there are still certain countries that are waiting for their New Year to arrive. Yes, it’s what you are thinking. Some countries in Asia, like China, typically celebrate two New Years – one on Jan 1st and the other coming (this year) on January 28th. How is this so?

All About The Chinese New Year

Focusing on China, the Chinese New Year has been celebrated since ancient times. In the past, it was celebrated to please different deities. Today, the celebration becomes a mark of the turning of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar or Lunar Calendar. That’s why the Chinese New Year is sometimes referred to as the Lunar New Year.

What’s interesting is, next year, the Chinese New Year will be celebrated on a different day. When the next New Year arrives depends entirely on the lunar calendar.

How Is The Chinese New Year Celebrated?

Each Asian country has their own way of celebrating the Chinese New Year, but most of the time, the celebration will include firecrackers, traditional lion and dragon dances, night markets, and parades.

In China, the Chinese New Year is a chance for families to get together. The women in the family work hard to cook traditional Chinese food and clean the house of “bad luck” before the New Year. Other members of the family would prepare the different red-colored decorations for the house. All of the adults in the family would, then, give out red envelopes with “lucky money” in it to give to the little children. This symbolises that they are imparting good luck and good fortune to the young ones.

The Red Fire Rooster/Chicken

In the Chinese culture, whichever date the New Year falls on has a corresponding animal, colour and element symbol. For example, this year is going to be the year of the red fire rooster/chicken. This is important because it will determine how one’s life, love and business is going to be next year. These are all based on Chinese Astrology. The Chinese will have to prepare items of luck and perform specific traditions based on what year it is.

Would you like to see how the Chinese New Year is celebrated in China for yourself? It’s going to be one of the biggest celebrations of the year. You can still plan a visit if you’re interested, or, better yet, you can learn more about the Chinese New Year from Asian Date ladies. Don’t forget to check out more of our posts on our blog.