A banner of the celebration of Chinese New Year. Photographed in Taipei. Chinese New Year (Chinese: 春節 Chūnjíe, 農曆新年 Nónglì Xīnnián or 過年 Gùonián), also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, one of the traditional Chinese holidays, is celebrated on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar, which falls on the day on which the second new moon after the day on which the winter solstice occurs, unless there is an intercalary eleventh or twelfth month in the lead-up to the New Year. In this case, the New Year falls on the third new moon after the Solstice. (The next time this occurs is in 2033.) Celebrated internationally, including in Chinatowns, Chinese New Year is the most important holiday of the Chinese people, and many East Asians such as Mongolians, Koreans and Vietnamese who have holidays which fall on the same day.
Greetings Around the New Year people greet each other with:
Simplified Chinese: 恭喜发财 - "Gōngxǐ fācái" (Mandarin/Putonghua), * Traditional Chinese: 恭喜發財; "Kung hei fat choi" (Cantonese) = "congratulations and be prosperous"
- "Xīnián kuàilè" (新年快樂) = "Happy New Year"
Traditions Traditionally, red packets (Mandarin'hong bao' 紅包; [Cantonese] 'lai see' 利是) are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples to unmarried people. Chinese New Year is celebrated with firecrackers, Dragon dances and lion dances.
Reunion Dinner A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far, get together for celebration. The New Year's Eve dinner is very large and traditionally includes chicken. Fish is included as the Chinese phrase "nien nien you yi" is a homophone which could mean "have fish every year" or "be blessed every year". Prosperity vegetable or "fatt choy" (cantonese) is also featured since the name of the dish sounds similiar to "prosperity".
First New Year's Day New Year's day is also celebrated within the family. Usually family members gather on the morning of New Year's Day. It is at this gathering that red packets are given to unmarried members of the family. The age of the recipient is not material to receiving the packets. Married couple usually give out two red packets on the first new year after being married. This is because the wife presents one and the husband presents one. In subsequent years they may give one as a couple.
Red packets traditionally consisted of amounts which were considered multiples. Amounts like $2 (two piece of $1), or $20 were acceptable. Similarly "multiples" such as $1.10 and $2.20 were also acceptable. However, this is not strictly adhered to. The gift was originally a token amount but these days it is not uncommon to receive large sums in affluent families. In some families this tradition has evolved into the practice to substituting money-like instruments (stocks, bonds, unit trust) in place of large sums of cash.
Red packets are also given to unmarried visitors but the sums are often smaller than the packets given to family members or close friends.
Meals on New Year's Day are typically vegetarian.
Second New Year's Day The second day of the new year is usually for visiting the family of the wife if a couple is married. A large feast is also typically held on the second day of the new year.
Seventh New Year's Day The seventh day traditionally is everyone's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older. It is also the day when tossed fish salad is eaten. People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity.
Food There are many foods in Chinese culture associated with the Lunar New Year. Some examples include the following: - nian gao Although literally, it means "Year Cake", nián gao is more similar to a sweet, stretchy, and sticky pudding. Nián gao is made with glutinous rice powder, brown sugar and flavored with rose water or azuki beans. The batter is steamed until it solidifies and served in thick slices. The Chinese word "nián" or "to stick" is similar in sound to "year", and the word "gao" or "cake" sounds similar to "high/tall". As such, eating "nián gao" is has the symbolism of raise oneself in each coming year, or "nián nián gao sheng". Chinese families who practice idolatry also offer "nian gao" to the kitchen god. It is believed that all the household gods go off to heaven to report on a family during the new year. Serving nian gao to the kitchen god ensures that he provides a sweet report on the family and that his lips are sticky from the cakes that he is unable to make too much of a report.
- fa gao Literally translated as "Prosperity Cake", fa gao is made with wheat flour, water, sugar and leavened with either yeast or baking powder. Fa gao batter is steamed until it rises and splits open at the top. The sound "fa" means either "to raise/generate" or "be prosperous", hence its well intending secondary meaning.
- jiaozi dumplings
- yu sheng, a salad of raw fish (especially popular in Singapore and Malaysia). It was originally served on the seventh day of new year but now it can be obtained easily from two weekends prior to the new year.
- mandarin oranges (a symbol of wealth and good fortune). The Cantonese word for these oranges is a homonym for gold.
- Red Jujubes (棗) (also called "Chinese Dates") symbolizes the gaining of prosperity
- whole steamed fish (a symbol of long life and good fortune). A common greeting for the new year is "nian nian you yü" which is a homonym meaning to "have fish every year" or to "be prosperous every year".
- uncut noodles (a symbol of longevity)
- baked goods with seeds (a symbol of fertility)
Festivities The New Year season lasts fifteen days. The first three days are the most important and most often celebrated with visits to friends and family as well as greetings of good luck. The celebrations end on the important and colourful Lantern Festival on the evening of the 15th day of the month.
The date is determined by the Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar. The same calendar is used in countries that have adopted the Confucian and Buddhism tradition and in many cultures influenced by the Chinese, notably the Koreans, the Tibetans, the Vietnamese and the pagan Bulgars. Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new year, containing a new moon (some sources even include New Year's Eve) and ends on the Lantern Festival fifteen days later. This occurs around the time of the full moon as each lunation is about 29.53 days in duration. In the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, on a date between January 21 and February 21. These dates will slowly drift over tens of thousands of years because the Gregorian calendar is a rule-based calendar that only approximates the true astronomical calculations used by the Chinese calendar.
New Year dates The dates of the Spring Festival from 1996 to 2019 (in the Gregorian calendar) are listed below with pinyin romanizations for the earthly branches associated with the animals, which are not their translations.
| Animal | Branch | Dates | | Rat | Zi | 1996 February 19 | 2008 February 7 | | Ox | Chou | 1997 February 7 | 2009 January 26 | | Tiger | Yin | 1998 January 28 | 2010 February 14 | | Rabbit | Mao | 1999 February 16 | 2011 February 3 | | Dragon | Chen | 2000 February 5 | 2012 January 23 | | Snake | Si | 2001 January 24 | 2013 February 10 | | Horse | Wu | 2002 February 12 | 2014 January 31 | | Goat | Wei | 2003 February 1 | 2015 February 19 | | Monkey | Shen | 2004 January 22 | 2016 February 8 | | Rooster | You | 2005 February 9 | 2017 January 28 | | Dog | Xu | 2006 January 29 | 2018 February 16 | | Pig | Hai | 2007 February 18 | 2019 February 5 |
See Chinese astrology for a list of Chinese New Year dates for every year from 1900 to 2020, covering one full sexagesimal cycle (1924–1983) and portions of two others.
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