Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year, also known as the lunar new year, is the day where we celebrate the beginning of a new year according to the Chinese calendar that begins with the new moon that occurs sometime between January 21 and February 20 according to Western calendars. The Chinese New Year has been celebrated in China for thousands of years, with various forms of activities among the diverse regions of China. The New Year celebration is centered around removing the bad and the old, and welcoming the new and the good. 

In preparation for the Chinese New Year celebrations, people usually decorate their house with lanterns, new flowerpots, and furniture, usually with red as a theme, and will buy new clothing and shoes to wear during the Chinese New Year. They will also prepare food and drinks that will be eaten during the celebration. The older generation will also prepare a red envelope called (Hong Bao) and fill them with money to give to the younger generation as tokens of good wishes.

At midnight during the start of the Chinese New Year, you can usually see and hear the sounds of firecrackers lighting the sky signaling the start of the new year. During the Chinese New Year, people will usually pray for blessings and good luck in the year ahead. In some places you can also see the dragon and lion dances with loud and festive music. Family members will usually wear the new clothing and shoes and gather together to talk to each other and eat together. During the celebration, the younger generation will greet the older generation with phrases such as “Xinnian Kuaile” (Happy New Year in Mandarin) or “Gong Xi Fa Cai” (wishing you a prosperous year in Mandarin) where the older generation will then reply by giving the younger generation HongBao.

Nowadays, because of the pandemic, the Chinese New Year feel less festive since you can’t really gather together with your family member in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. You can still interact virtually with family members through online meeting apps, such as: Zoom, but for me it feels different. Not only that, there is rarely any dragon or lion dance performances around and at night there is significantly less fireworks to be seen. I hope the pandemic can end as soon as possible so we can bring back the festive Chinese New Year like before.