It is the New Year for Chinese people they celebrate like us. They celebrate the Chinese New Year on their traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar.
The festival mainly known as the Spring Festival in Chinese and other cultures of East Asian countries, as the spring season in the lunisolar calendar traditionally starts with Linchun; this festival only begins in the twenty-four solar periods that happen during the time of Chinese New Year.
At the end of the winter season and beginning of the spring season, traditionally taking place from the eve of New Year, the evening starts with the first day of celebrating the year, the Lantern Festival, which happens on the 15th day of the year.
This is when the first day of the Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that occurs between January 21 and February 20. The people there relate this day with several customs and myths, which is why this festival holds an important place in their country and certain other countries.
The ‘Lo Hei’ is a festive and occasionally messy ritual that brings people together to invoke wishes for the coming year while mixing and tossing the ingredients of the yu sheng dish, a vibrant raw fish salad made with ingredients like green radish, fish, shredded carrot, plum sauce, peanuts, and spices.
This just one of the many rich traditions practiced in Singapore as part of our Chinese New Year celebrations. This article discusses New Year’s Day, like its history, celebration, and more.
Why it known as the spring festival?
It is well known as the Spring Festival in China, although it starts during the winter.
This is all due to the Beginning of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms that correspond with the changes in Nature), which indicates the end of winter and the start of spring.
The Spring Festival marks a New Year on the lunar calendar and represents the desire for people to live a new life and do something great this year. This is the reason behind the Day, popularly known as the Chinese Spring Festival.
Legend (Nian) of the Chinese New Year
It is a festival in which people relate to various customs, stories, and myths and follow Chinese New Year traditions. The mythical beast Nian is one of the most famous legends.
He used to eat various livestock and crops and sometimes ate people on the eve of Chinese New Year. To stop the activities of Nian on the eve of New Year, people used to eat food beforehand at their doors so that Nian could eat that rather than crops and people.
Once, a wise older man observed that Nian always scared of loud sounds like firecrackers and the color red. So from then onwards, people started putting lanterns of red color and even sometimes red scrolls on their windows and doors to restrict Nian from coming inside.
10 Chinese New Year facts:
These are a few of the Chinese new year facts we all should know.
1. It falls on different dates yearly: The Chinese New Year falls on other dates and usually depends on the ‘new moon.’ The dates generally lie in late January or February.
2. Also known as spring festival: It is also known as the spring festival because it celebrates the beginning of a new life and the spring season is also about the new life of plants and trees.
3. Each year in the Chinese calendar links with different animals: Each year in the Chinese calendar indicates another animal, and the Chinese New Year 2023 marks a tiger. People there usually believe that if you are born in the year, you would resemble the traits of that particular animal.
4. They celebrate for 15 days: The celebration of Chinese New Year lasts for around 15 days and is not only a one-day celebration. It ends with a full moon in the sky, and the last festival is a lantern festival.
The first three days of the celebration are a public holiday because this is when the main festival happens.
5. Happy Chinese New Year in different ways: As we know, in every festival, we wish people in some way or the other, so to wish a happy new year, the best way is to say “Guo Nian Hao.”
6. Children get an envelope of red with money filled: On Chinese New Year, children receive red envelopes of cash and can spend this money on anything they want. In the envelope, they can’t get an amount that includes the number four and any amount divisible by 4. This is because the number 4 in Chinese sounds like death.
7. This celebration ends with a “Lantern Festival”: On the last day of the Chinese New Year, people end it with a lantern festival by releasing a flying lantern in the sky, and they also celebrate it with their respective families. The lantern festival indicates forgiveness, harmony, and peace among the people and every individual present.
8. Clean your house before the Chinese New Year celebration: Before the celebration starts, people of China clean their houses to remove all the negativities present in the place and make their celebration happy and cheerful.
9. Lion and dragon dances: On New Year, the lion and dragon dances are famous in China. People believe that this dance will bring good luck to the places there. Play loud drums on that day. People do this to remove bad luck and keep all the evil spirits from the city.
10. Fireworks and crackers are burnt at midnight: On Chinese New Year’s Day, people burn many crackers like we do, as there is a myth that the beast Nian (who eats crops and even people sometimes) hates loud noises and will become scared off if there are many crackers burnt that produce loud noises.
These are a few of the facts each of us should know about Chinese New Year’s Day.
The lunar new year 2023 (the Chinese new year 2023)
Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, celebrated by people on February 1 in the year 2023, which is Tuesday.
In places of East Asia, the Lunar New Year starts on the second new moon following the solstice of winter, which always lies in late December.
This shows that the Lunar New Year’s 2023 first day may fall at any moment between January 21 January and February 20.
The Lunar New Year 2023 will begin in China on February 1, when this new moon appears.
Chinese New Year 2023
Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, a 15-day celebration commended every year, depending on the new moon’s location. The occasion called the Spring Celebration, and a creature is related to each New Year.
The animals pivot and rehash as indicated by a proper cycle.
In this upcoming year, the Chinese New Year 2023 will fall on January 22, which is Sunday. Each year in the Chinese calendar links with different animals, and this New Year 2023 comes up with the animal rabbit, and people believe that they will have the characteristics of a rabbit.
The Chinese people there will get a holiday of around seven days from their respective works, i.e., between January 21 and 27 in Chinese New Year 2023.
Celebration outside China
Chinese New Year is a public holiday annually celebrated every year, and people in different countries celebrate it. Countries include Asia, Malaysia, Singapore, and several other countries.
These are as follows:
1. Southeast Asia: Chinese New Year is a public occasion in numerous Southeast Asian nations and is viewed as one of the main occasions of the year.
2. Malaysia: Chinese New Year’s Eve is commonly a half-day occasion in Malaysia, while Chinese New Year is a two-day public occasion. The greatest festivals happen in Malaysia (prominently in Kuala Lumpur, George Town, Johor Bahru, and Ipoh.
3. Singapore: In Singapore, the Chinese New Year is formally a two-day public occasion. Different merry exercises join the Chinese New Year. One of the primary features is the Chinatown festivities. In 2010, this incorporated a Merry Road Marketplace, daily organized shows at Kreta Ayer Square, and a lion dance competition. The Chingay March likewise includes conspicuously in the festivals.
4. Philippines: In the Philippines, the Chinese New Year is the main celebration for Filipino-Chinese. Its festival has additionally stretched out to the non-Chinese, more significant part of Filipinos. In 2012, the Chinese New Year was remembered as a public occasion in the Philippines, just New Year’s Day.
5. Indonesia: In Indonesia, the Chinese New Year is officially named Tahun Baru Imlek or Sin Cia in Hokkien. It was celebrated as one of the official national religious holidays by Indonesians from June 18, 1946, to January 1, 1953, through government regulation signed by President Sukarno on June 18, 1946.
History of Chinese New Year
It is the Chinese celebration that praises the start of another year on the conventional Chinese schedule. The festival is usually called the Spring Celebration in the central area of China and is one of the few Lunar New Years in Asia.
The primary day of Chinese New Year starts on the new moon that shows up between January 21 and February 20. It’s a significant occasion in more noteworthy China.
It has unequivocally impacted the Lunar New Year festivities of China’s adjoining societies, including the Korean New Year, the Tet of Vietnam, and the Losar of Tibet.
It celebrated in areas and nations with huge Chinese populations, similar to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, North America, and Europe.
In 1928, the Kuomintang party announced that the Chinese New Year would fall on January 1, following the Gregorian Schedule, yet this deserted because of overpowering resistance from the general population.
In 1967 during the Social Upset, official Chinese New Year festivities were restricted in China. The State Board of the Individuals Republic of China declared that general society should change customs and have a reformed and battling Spring Celebration.
Since individuals expected to chip away at Chinese New Year’s Eve, they only had occasion during Spring Celebration day. The public festivals were re-established after the Chinese economic change.
The celebration was generally an opportunity to respect divinities as well as progenitors. Inside China, local traditions and customs concerning the festival of the New Year shift broadly.
And the night before Chinese New Year’s Day is regularly viewed as an event for Chinese families to accumulate for the yearly gathering supper.
It is likewise customary for each family to completely clean their home. To clear away any evil fortune and to clear a path for approaching the best of luck.
Chinese New Year Traditions
The Chinese Zodiac comprises 12 creatures. These are Rodents, Bull, Tiger, Bunny, Mythical Serpent, Snake, Pony, Goat, Monkey, Chicken, Canine, and Pig. In a specific order.
The Chinese New Year is fantastic, much like the New Year festivity of the Gregorian schedule. A custom firmly followed on this day is getting together to have a dining experience.
Specific food sources are representative and are ordinary during the Chinese New Year. Dumplings address riches, so they eaten in overflow, with fish another food eaten a ton.
For the most part, red is a good variety in China. It seen all over the place during the New Year – addressing essentialness, excellence, karma, satisfaction, and favorable luck.
Chinese New Year Statistics
1. 20% of the worldwide population celebrates: The total populace by the 2020 Chinese New Year will be around 7.7 billion individuals. Of those individuals, 2 billion will observe Chinese New Year. In the central area of China alone, there are about 1.41 billion individuals; in Hong Kong, there are 7 million individuals.
Also, assuming you include the remainder of the populace living in different parts of Asia, America, and Europe. It’s easy to perceive how that 2 billion number will satisfied.
2. Eight billion red envelopes: It wouldn’t be New Year without a red envelope to drop to kids and single youthful family members. Consistently, around 8 billion red envelopes get out and about all through Chinese families worldwide. Every envelope contains a significant amount of money or chocolate coins, representing favourable luck and abundance for the New Year.
3. Forty days of festivity: The Spring Celebration is 15 days. However, festivities start on New Year’s Eve, making it 16. The Christmas season begins in lunar December with the Laba Celebration, making it 40 days of the festival. Customarily, you need to invest energy with your family and can go out after the fifth day.
It’s a public occasion meaning the more significant part of stores undeniably shut. So that individuals will purchase Nian Huo or New Year’s items the prior month. The Chinese stock up on cooking supplies, snacks, gifts, new garments. And whatever else they could have to get the New Year.
Chinese New Year Activities
Recollect your ancestors amid the multitude of festivities. It’s not difficult to remember that Chinese New Year is an occasion for the entire family – youngsters and older folks alike. Pause for a minute to see the value in those you love most.
1. Eat and be joyful
To begin with, consider all the faint aggregate enjoyments that anticipate the New Year. Then, at that point, make sure to partake in the firecrackers, marches, and general cheer. So Chinese New Year centers on making the best of luck for the year to come. Carve out the opportunity to live it up and others around you.
2. Share the customary red envelopes.
The red represents the best of luck. The money-related gifts intended to bring the beneficiary favorable luck. So try to give cash in even numbers, and don’t have the number four in the sum.
Conclusion
People associate Chinese New Year traditions with various traditions, tales, and customs and adhere to New Year rituals. Many other countries don’t know about New Year’s Day, but it’s good to know certain things related to it.
By this, we can also take part and celebrate the joy they do. It’s easy to forget that is a celebration for the whole family young and elderly alike, in the thick of the comparatively large number of festivals.
Pause for a minute to see the value in those you love. Also, we can tell people around us to say it differently. Those ways can be happy Chinese New Year, spring festival, Lunar New Year, etc.
