The Chinese New Year will fall on February 10, 2024. It’s a time for family, festivities, removing the old and bad, and inviting New Year’s blessings.
Remember, the Chinese New Year celebration, or the Spring Festival, is not a single-day event, but a period celebrated for 16 days. The festivities last from Chinese New Year’s Eve (February 9) to the Chinese Lantern Festival (February 24). Many traditions during this period go back thousands of years, but some are new.
Pre-Chinese New Year traditions
The Chinese New Year is so important that preparations for the event start more than a month before New Year’s Day.
Laba Festival (January 18)
Some people start celebrating and preparing for the New Year during the Laba Festival. Traditionally, this festival marks the beginning of the Spring Festival. This year, this day fell on January 18.
Rituals and traditions include praying to ancestors and gods for fortune and a bumper harvest. Foods to enjoy on this day include Laba porridge, Laba tofu, and noodles.
Little Year (February 2 or 3)
The Little Year marks the official day to begin your preparations for the New Year. From this day onward, people start praying to the kitchen god, buying goods, and cleaning their houses, among other activities. Also, due to different customs around the country, this day falls on 2nd in most parts of Northern China and 3rd in Southern regions.
Common preparations before the Chinese New Year
Spring cleaning
Also called “sweeping away the dust,” people sweep away any bad luck and make way for good fortune. But this cleaning doesn’t end at your home. It also involves paying all your debts, settling your quarrels, and finishing any unfinished businesses to start your new year fresh.
Decorating
You’ll see a lot of red during this period because it symbolizes happiness and good luck. Typical decorations include red lanterns to drive off bad luck, door couplets (Chunlian), paper cuttings, and upside-down Fu characters.
Other decorations include blossoming flowers and lucky plants. Plants to decorate or give as presents include stalks of pussy willows, cherry blossom branches, kumquat trees, and orange trees.
Shopping
Most people shop between the Little Year and February 8. It’s time to buy food and snacks, clothes, decorations, fireworks, and everything they need for the Spring Festival.
Making New Year banners
Like the Western December’s Festive Season, the Chinese will decorate the entrances of their houses and businesses with red and gold banners bearing New Year messages. While red symbolizes happiness, gold symbolizes prosperity.
Praying to the gods and paying respects to ancestors
People will visit temples or their ancestors’ graves to pray for good fortune and request favors for the coming year. They come with offerings such as food and incense to please the gods.
A reunion dinner
The Chinese New Year is a time for family and traveling home. Most people travel home to reunite with their families, and this Spring Festival travel rush is called “Chunyun.”
People help prepare food for the coming days at home, and there will be a lavish reunion dinner. Remember, meals are prepared before the Chinese New Year because all knives are put away for the first few days of the event — you wouldn’t want to cut away your new luck.
At a reunion dinner, dishes that bring luck must be served, including fish, dumplings, sticky rice cake (nian gao), and spring rolls.
Chinese New Year’s Eve
In the days leading to New Year’s Eve, most people would have made preparations such as decorations, shopping, a reunion dinner, or offering sacrifices. However, some people leave these activities for Chinese New Year’s Eve.
New Year’s Eve is also the time to give kids and unmarried people red envelopes (Hongbao). They contain best wishes for the coming year and sometimes money.
Most families also watch the New Year’s Gala, which starts at 8 p.m. and ends at midnight as the New Year enters. It features acrobats, dancers, and famous singers from all over the country.
New Year’s Day celebrations
People believe what they do on this day will mark the rest of their year. It starts with setting off firecrackers and fireworks; some believe the louder the fireworks, the better luck they will have throughout the year. They also don their New Year’s clothes, watch lion and dragon dances, celebrate at public parks, and participate in fairs, among other traditions.
Post-New Year’s Day traditions
Traditionally, wives visit their parents on the second day of the New Year, bringing red envelopes and gifts for friends and relatives.
From the third to the seventh day, people will visit relatives and friends or visit their relatives’ tombs. However, some people stay in their houses on the third day because evil spirits may be lurking around.
Eight is a lucky number in China, so most people will return to work or open their businesses on the eighth day of the New Year.
The Chinese Lantern Festival (February 24)
This is the 15th day of the New Year, which marks the end of Spring Festival celebrations. People will send glowing lanterns into the sky or release floating lanterns in rivers, lakes, or oceans.
Remember, Chinese New Year traditions may vary from region to region. However, one thing remains constant: it’s a time for festivities, family, and cleansing away the old problems as you enter a New Year.
As they say in Cantonese: “Gong Hey Fat Choi” (wishing you a prosperous year!).
