Countries across Asia are beginning their Lunar New Year celebrations.
1. China – Taiwan – Hong Kong
In China, hundreds of millions of people are travelling home in what is considered the world’s biggest annual human migration.
Chinese New Year, known in modern Chinese as the “Spring Festival”, is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Celebrations traditionally run from the evening proceeding the first day, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first calendar month. The first day of the New Year falls on the new moon between January 21st and February 20th. In 2017, the first day of the Chinese New Year is on Saturday (January 28th), initiating the Year of the Rooster.
Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Year’s Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “good fortune” or “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes.
2. Vietnam
Lunar New Year (Tet), is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Tet celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar, which usually has the date falling in January or February.
Tet is generally celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, except when the one-hour time difference between Vietnam and China results in the new moon occurring on different days. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Vietnamese calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day.
Many Vietnamese prepare for Tet by cooking special holiday food and cleaning the house. Many customs are practised during Tet, such as visiting a person’s house on the first day of the new year, ancestor worship, wishing New Year’s greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop.
Tet is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. They start forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hope for a better upcoming year.
3. Japan
Bonenkai parties are held to leave the past year’s troubles behind in order to begin a fresh new start. Traditional Japanese food for the New Year is called osechi. Osechi consists of many different kinds of food, such as buckwheat noodles, mochi, fish cakes, and mashed sweet potato with chestnut. The New Year is started by viewing the sunrise on January 1st followed by a visit to a shrine or temple.
4. Laos
Lao New Year, called Songkran or Pii Mai, is celebrated every year from April 13th or 14th to April 15th or 16th.
The official festival lasts for three days from April 14th to April 16th (although celebrations can last more than a week in towns like Luang Prabang. The first day is the last day of the old year. Houses and villages are properly cleaned on the first day. Perfume, water and flowers are also prepared for the Lao New Year.
The second day of the festival is the “day of no day”, a day that falls in neither the old year or the new year. The last day of the festival marks the start of the new year.
5. Thailand
The Songkran festival is the Thai New Year’s festival. The Thai New Year’s Day is April 13th every year, but the holiday period includes April 14th – 15th as well.
The celebration is rich with symbolic traditions. Mornings begin with merit-making. Visiting local temples and offering food to the Buddhist monks is commonly practised. On this specific occasion, performing water pouring on Buddha statues is considered an iconic ritual for this holiday. It represents purification and the washing away of one’s sins and bad luck.
As a festival of unity, people who have moved away usually return home to their loved ones and elders. As a way to show respect, younger people often practice water pouring over the palms of elders’ hands. Paying reverence to ancestors is also an important part of Songkran tradition.
The holiday is known for its water festival which is mostly celebrated by young people. Major streets are closed for traffic, and are used as arenas for water fights. Celebrants, young and old, participate in this tradition by splashing water on each other./.
Compiled by BTA
Asian nations welcome the Lunar New Year Related image(s)
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