The Lunar New Year, also known as the Chinese New Year, dates back thousands of years. Traditions began on the first day of the Chinese calendar in 14 century B.C during the Shang Dynasty. According to History.com, “Some households hold rituals to offer food and paper icons to ancestors”. Others put up red paper banners inscribed with calligraphy messages of good health and fortune in front and inside of homes. The holiday celebrates spring arriving and the beginning of the new year. The date of the Lunar New Year depends on the day of the second new moon after the winter solstice and falls on a day a year between January 21st and February 20th. This year, the celebration fell on Sunday, January 22nd.
Each year is represented by one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiacs. These animals include a rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. This year’s animal is a rabbit. These animals are associated with different characteristics and the rabbit illustrates kindness, elegance, quietness and responsibility. According to Seventeen.com,If you are born in the year of the rabbit, 2023 will bring you “many challenges and misfortunes.” Other years of the rabbit include 2011, 1999, 1987, and 1975. Our current 6th graders fall into the year of the rabbit.
The Lunar New Year is one of the only times a year some Asian people actually take off of work to celebrate. According to Asia For Educators, this holiday is considered “the most important and festive holiday of the year” typically celebrated by South and East Asian countries. These countries include China, Japan, North and South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Mongolia. The holiday is about spreading their culture across the globe, which is why it is so important.
The celebration of the new year lasts up to 15 days. To begin the festivities, families come together to have a big reunion. Extended family members from all over would come home to celebrate by having a big family dinner. At these dinners, a plate of food and an extra glass is put out for their ancestors to “eat first,” as a way to honor them. On the fifteenth and final day of celebrations, families go to a festival where lanterns are held and rice balls are eaten. According to Asia For Educators the lanterns were used as a way to see the gods from the light that they give off. This holiday provides the opportunity for them to honor their culture and ancestors through various ways of celebration.
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