Happy New Year! Actually, Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year!
By Maureen Lisi-MacReady, Advancing Belonging, Community and Diversity Committee
The celebration of Chinese New Year is the most auspicious holiday celebration of the year. Traditionally, it begins with Chinese New Year’s Eve and runs for 15 days until the Chinese Lantern Festival.
2023 is the Year of the Rabbit and falls on January 22, 2023. The date is based on a lunar calendar so in any given year, the Chinese New Year may fall on any date between January 21st and February 20th. Consequently, if you are born in either January or February, confirm under which sign you were born. Each month is symbolized by an animal of the lunar zodiac and is represented by particular attributes.
As with any cultural celebration, practices can vary but often consist of early preparation including the Little Year, winter cleaning, and New Year’s shopping for decorations, gifts, and food. The culmination is typically decorating on New Year’s Eve with red paper lanterns to ward off bad luck, writing and hanging pairs of Chinese poetry known as couplets, and preparing offerings to ancestors to honor, show respect and thank them for their intercessions on behalf of the family.
No cultural celebration is complete without food. Chinese New Year is no exception - so much food! Most items are symbolic of luck, prosperity, and health some because of color, others because the name sounds like the Chinese words for luck, prosperity, or health: fish and pork belly for prosperity, dumplings and spring rolls for wealth, a whole chicken for luck, glutinous rice cakes to increase your status, noodles for longevity, sweet rice balls and pork meatballs for family harmony, shrimp for happiness. These are served at the reunion feast, a family reunion when every family member, if at all possible, gathers together on New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Day is spent visiting elders, other family members, and neighbors.
Of course, there is much gift giving too! Symbolism reigns here as well: the red envelope with money for prosperity is a traditional gift for children and they can collect from parents, relatives, and friends. Fruit, especially kumquats and tangerines whose names contain the words for luck and in the case of kumquat, gold and luck.
Chinese New Year like the American New Year is welcomed in with fireworks! If you are lucky enough to live in an area with a large Chinese population you may have started around 6 pm on Chinese New Year’s Eve with the Chinese New Year parade featuring Lion and Dragon dances, floats, music, and children marching with the procession. It was living in San Francisco and Los Angeles that led to my fascination and delight in this special celebration. While not my heritage, I can appreciate and enjoy this holiday for its beauty, sharing of tradition, and celebration of family.
For more information on local celebrations:
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