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Rituals and Customs to Celebrate Chinese New Year

From mouth-watering treats to impressive pyrotechnics, these are the ways that people commonly celebrate Chinese New Year around the world.

While most Westerners experience ‘Chinese New Year’ by watching parades in Chinatown and having a great meal, its traditions vary from country to country. The holiday is more aptly called ‘Lunar New Year’, as it marks the start of a new lunar cycle, and is one of the most important holidays in Asia.

Catch up with family and friends

Lunar New Year (LNY) is a time to head home – here’s hoping you still fit in a twin bed. So get ready to have your cheeks pinched, your plate filled and your life choices questioned.

Like many major holidays, Lunar New Year is best spent with family and friends. The tradition is so crucial that LNY travel is annually heralded as the ‘world’s largest human migration’ – at least until Covid-19. In 2019, three billion trips were made during the holiday season.

Family reunion dinners falling on LNY Eve also include ancestral worship rituals that connects the 3,800-year history of the holiday to the present. To start a new year, connecting with the people in your life is central to LNY.

Watch a traditional dance or fireworks show

Perhaps not the most hangover-friendly of traditions, LNY wouldn’t be complete without pyrotechnics. In China, New Year’s firecrackers are made from strings of rolled red paper containing gunpowder that, when set off, leave shreds of scarlet paper in their wake.

The belief is that the loud noise of the firecrackers serves to scare Nian, the lion-like monster who legend says rose from the sea for a feast of human flesh on the new year.

Nian mythology also plays out during lion dances across LNY festivities. These dances are one of the most globally recognised traditions because of their prominence in diaspora celebrations. These colourful traditional dances are performed outdoors to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals, sometimes as a street parade – or in the air, if a flying lion dance is taking place.

Share the wealth with loved ones

The colour red brings literal wealth in the form of red lai see packets gifted to children and unmarried adults during the holiday. These red packets are cash gifts that can range from a few dollars to quite hefty amounts, depending on the relationship to the recipient. Employers are also expected to gift red packets to unmarried employees as a sign of gratitude.

For Seollal celebrations in Korea, these presents take the form of red satchels, and monetary gifts are accompanied by encouraging messages and blessings of good luck for the new year.

In China’s Tibet, where the holiday is called Losar, children bring gifts to their elders. On the first morning of LNY, children will don traditional clothing and bring a basket containing cooked meats, steamed dumplings, fruit, sweets and amdo balep, a traditional bread – no doubt helpful to adults who may have imbibed too much during the evening’s revelry.

Visit a LNY market

Ahead of New Year’s Day, open-air markets sell decorations, red packets, toys, clothes and trinkets. These outdoor markets are a frenzy of activity. In Southern China, street markets teem with flowers and potted plants. Flowers such as orchids and peonies are popular because they are considered especially auspicious.

Other outdoor marketplaces are associated with the religious aspect of the holiday. These are called temple fairs and take place after the holiday begins. Offerings usually include sugar-worked animals from the lunar zodiac, prayer scrolls and incense. Somewhat similar to the Christmas markets in Europe, these markets are a way to embrace the holiday spirit.

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