By Joselin Ramos
Here we are in 2021, and 2020 couldn’t have ended faster ! America has officially celebrated our new year and we are already halfway through its first month … but even though January 1st has passed, we can’t forget about Lunar New Year!! This year it will be celebrated on Friday, February 12th 2021. The traditional Chinese calendar is what determines the day in which Lunar New Year falls. It’s based on both the cycle of the moon and Earth’s course around the sun, which makes it lunisolar.
The Lunar Calendar’s existence traces back to the 14th century BC (the Shang Dynasty), and this celebration always falls between January 21st and February 20th. This holiday is one of the most, if not the most important holiday in China.
10 days before Lunar New Year families do a deep clean through their house to remove any bad luck and energy left from the old year, and beautiful decorations are put up. This holiday can last up to 16 days! Additionally, money is given out in red envelopes during this time. The “lantern festival” is celebrated on the last day. Since it marks the end of the holiday, lanterns are put up, dancing and fireworks fill the streets, and delicious foods are put out. Some traditional foods served during this festival are dumplings and nian gao, and it’s a tradition to make them as a family.
The dumplings are thought to resemble ancient Chinese money and to bring good luck into someone’s life. They are usually shaped into spheres or crescents. Nian gao is eaten all year long, but it’s also a Chinese New Year’s cake, which has been said to be a homonym for “becoming lofty with high hopes with each year.”
One of the most famous traditions connected to Chinese New Year concerns the Chinese zodiac. Each month and year is dedicated to one of the 12 animals, namely: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Each animal has their own characteristics that symbolically represent different types of people. Those characteristics tend to dominate the social environment during their designated month or year. What animal dominates your date of birth on the Chinese lunar calendar? Go look yours up!
There are many tales about how all these traditions started, and depending on who you ask you’ll probably get different versions of each. For instance, it’s been said that fireworks are a practice because an elderly man disguised as a fairy saved his town from a monster by throwing bamboo sticks into a bonfire. The resulting explosions scared off the terrible monster, so now firecrackers are set off to scare away evil spirits of the past. Another tale concerns the red envelopes. A young orphan who lived during the Sung Dynasty defeated a huge demon invading the village of Chain-Chieu. To show gratitude, all the village elders gave the orphan a red envelope full of money!
Lastly, the Chinese zodiac signs are said to have come from a time when the Jade Emperor wanted animal guards. This emperor sent an immortal to spread the message of his desire to the human world, and the first 12 animals to arrive through the heavenly gate were selected.