The date of Chinese new year is different from year to year and is based on the lunar calendar. It’s always somewhere between January 21st and February 20th. This year, Chinese New Year falls on Monday February 8th! This spring festival, as the direct translation calls it, is an affair to celebrate the New Year and invite prosperity, longevity, health and wealth into our lives! This fifteen day celebration is the longest in the Chinese calendar, and involves lots of traditions. Here are some ways you can celebrate this Chinese New Year!
- Similarly to the origins of Halloween, the first day of Chinese New Year celebrations involve the offerings of sweets and foods to monsters that come out on New Year’s Day. Another way to prevent these dragons from getting their way is to decorate with the colour red, which they are scared of, and set off fireworks to make as much joyful noise as possible! Therefore, we buy treats for all the children and adults to wish everyone a happy new year!
- Each day of the fifteen day festival involves a different practice. The second day is believed to be every dog’s birthday, so they are given special birthday treats. The fifth is a day to eat dumplings for wealth. The eighth is where employers thank their employees for their work that year with a special dinner.
- The lantern festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day as a close to all the festivities. Paper lanterns are hung to guide wayward spirits home. Learning to make a paper lantern is a fun activity for kids and parents alike!
- Try some traditional New Year foods for the all-important reunion dinner. Friends and family unite to celebrate the year and give small gifts to each other. Foods like mandarin oranges and Chinese New Year cake are staples. Try your hand at making dumplings which symbolise prosperity!
Chinese New Year is not restricted to just individuals who speak the Chinese Language. Schools have incorporated Chinese New Year as a celebration for all. One popular tradition that has been incorporated in school must be the Dragon costume worn by the multiple students as they make an entrance dance into each classroom! Thus, Happy Chinese New Year to Everyone!!