Buy yourself a Chinese-style coat, get your kids tiger-head hats and shoes, and decorate your home with some beautiful red Chinese knots, then you will have an authentic Chinese-style Spring Festival. In stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and other cities, products of traditional Chinese style have started to lead fashion trends. Red couplets and red lanterns are displayed on the door frames and light up the atmosphere. For example, in 2013, New Year’s Eve (9 February) fell on a Saturday and New Year’s Day (10 February) on a Sunday. In 1967, during the Cultural Revolution, official Chinese New Year celebrations were banned in China.
The parade is attended by some 500,000 people, along with another 3 million TV viewers. They invited a variety of other groups from the city to participate, and they marched down what today are Grant Avenue and Kearny Street, carrying colourful flags, banners, lanterns, drums, and firecrackers to drive away evil spirits. In 1849, with the discovery of gold and the ensuing California Gold Rush, over 50,000 people came to San Francisco to seek their fortune or just a better way of life. The festival incorporates Grant and Kearny Streets into its street festival and parade route, respectively. The San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade is the oldest and one of the largest events of its kind outside of Asia, and one of the largest Asian cultural events in North America. Many communities throughout all of California celebrate with large celebrations taking place in both the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles, as well as in Fresno, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Rosa, and Stockton.
Visitors will be showered with gifts after catching up over Lunar New Year treats. Bags are stocked with presents and fruits to give out at people’s homes. For instance, in some northern areas people tend to serve dumplings and noodles, whereas the south can’t live without steamed rice.
What foods are traditionally eaten during Chinese New Year?
- During the Tang dynasty, people established the custom of sending bai nian tie (拜年帖, « New Year’s greetings »), New Year’s greeting cards.
- Red envelopes may be distributed during the reunion dinner to the immediate family.
- As noted earlier, for many people Lunar New Year is a time to consult the stars to find out what lies ahead in the coming months.
- In 2026, the cycle brings us to the Horse, the seventh animal in the zodiac order.
- In communities that celebrate Chinese New Year for 15 days, the fourth day marks the beginning of corporate « spring dinners » and the return to normal business operations.
Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that the newly arrived good luck cannot be swept away. It is believed that the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and prepares homes for good luck. On the days immediately before the new year celebration, Chinese families give their homes a thorough cleaning. The porridge was prepared by the women of the household at first light, with the first bowl offered to the family’s ancestors and the household deities.
During Spring Festival, elders should distribute pre-prepared lucky money to younger generations as a Lunar New Year gift. Since 1983, the Spring Festival Gala held by CCTV has become a “new custom” for Chinese people and an unmissable feast on New Year’s Eve every year. This is an important part of Chinese New Year Celebration, where people prepare various delicacies such as fish, meat, vegetables, etc., symbolizing “surplus every year” and “steady progress”. It is a traditional custom that has a great influence and is widely spread among Chinese people. From then on, every New Year’s Eve, every household would stick red couplets and set off firecrackers; make candles burning brightly all night and keep watch for the New Year. It is not only a special moment symbolizing rebirth, hope, and reunion, but also reflects the reverence and respect for time and nature in traditional Chinese culture.
Preparing for the Lunar New Year
Traditional foods include carp for long life, whole fish for abundance, dumplings and spring rolls for wealth, long noodles for longevity, sticky rice cakes for success, and citrus fruits for good luck. On the first day of the New Year, sweeping or cleaning is avoided as it is believed to brush away good fortune. In 2026 the Chinese New Year marks the Year of the Horse, according to the Chinese zodiac calendar. These greetings or phrases may also be used just before children receive their red packets, when gifts are exchanged, when visiting temples, or even when tossing the shredded ingredients of yusheng, particularly popular in Malaysia and Singapore. For example, as breaking objects during the new year is considered inauspicious, one may then say 歲歲平安 (Suìsuì-píng’ān) immediately, which means « everlasting peace year after year ».
These yearly combinations are believed to influence the traits of the era and the people born in that year. Every year, a different animal is honoured based on the Chinese zodiac. In 2027, the celebrations will begin on Saturday, February 6, ushering in the Year of the Goat. For many families, the festival marks more than a change of date, but a cultural reset rooted in renewal, reunion and hope for the months ahead. Community carnivals, family gatherings, parades, traditional food, and fireworks will mark the Year of the Horse. A huge part of Asian culture is not just family and togetherness – but incredible food.
When is Chinese New Year
The beast is said to have terrorised people every year, until he was defeated due to his fear of red, loud noises and fire. Primarily in traditional Chinese culture, the colour red originates from the myth of a monster called Nian. This is why many people clean their homes before the celebrations, as many clean to remove any misfortune or bad luck lingering ahead of the new year. The 15-day festival is about saying goodbye to the past year and, like the season of spring itself, symbolises renewal. This is because it marks the beginning of the spring season and the end of winter in the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. While celebrations and traditions take place annually, the exact date of the Lunar New Year changes every year as it begins with the arrival of a new moon, which signifies the start of a new month.
Giving Chinese New Year Red Envelope (红包)
Thus, it’s called renri/jan jat (the people’s birthday). Every year, certain Chinese zodiac signs clash with the stars negatively, so temple visits are considered a good way to resolve those conflicts and bring peace in the coming months. To kick things off, festive cakes and puddings are made on the 24th day of the last lunar month (February 11 in 2026). Festivities often last for 15 days — sometimes even more — with different tasks and activities taking place over that period. Like many major holidays, Lunar New Year can be a lot of work.
A 2026 guide to Lunar New Year as we gallop into the Year of the Horse
The remaining 14 days are usually only celebrated by ethnic Chinese families. In Indonesia, the first day of the Chinese New Year is recognized as a national holiday. In Singapore, Chinese New Year is officially a two-day public holiday and is accompanied by various festive activities. George Town, a Chinese-majority city, is known for its lively Chinese New Year celebrations that last until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day. Chinese New Year’s Eve is typically a half-day holiday in Malaysia, while Chinese New Year is a two-day public holiday.
In Bangkok, there are large celebrations in Chinatown, Yaowarat Road, where the main road is closed and turned into a pedestrian street, with a member of the royal family in attendance each year to open the ceremony, such as Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, Satun, and Songkhla. Celebrations are centered primarily in Binondo in Manila, the oldest Chinatown in the world, with other celebrations taking place in key cities. Chinese temples are generally open for 24 hours on the first day, distributing red envelopes and sometimes rice, fruits or sugar to the poor.citation needed On 19 January 2001, the Ministry of Religious Affairs issued Ministerial Decree No.13 of 2001 on Imlek Day as a National Holiday to set Hari Tahun Baru Imlek as a « facultative holiday » for the Chinese community.
- And this time of year, families can be seen enjoying the likes of fish, which represents fortune, as well as dumplings that symbolise wealth and glutinous rice balls, marking family reunion.
- It is convenient for people to buy gifts for their New Year visits as well as their home decorations at these markets.
- During the week before New Year’s Day, spring cleaning in homes is performed.
- In Singapore, Chinese New Year is officially a two-day public holiday and is accompanied by various festive activities.
- The poem Yuan Ri (元日) also includes the word bao zhu (爆竹, « exploding bamboo »), which is believed to be a reference to firecrackers,citation needed instead of the previous tradition of firing bamboo, both of which are called the same in the Chinese language.
San Gabriel hosts an annual Chinese Gala at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse in addition to its street festival. Neighboring Alhambra has also hosted a large festival since 1993 with many performances and street vendors. Monterey Park puts on the largest of such festivals, occupying 5 blocks in the city and attracting over 100,000 individuals. The Little Saigon area has hosted Tet celebrations since 1982 for its Chinese and Vietnamese communities.
Since Chinese New Year falls on different days of the week each year, the governments of some of these countries choose to adjust working days to create a longer public holiday. New Year’s celebrations continued under the Yuan dynasty, when people also gave nian gao (年糕, « year cakes ») to relatives. It is believed that placing the couplets on the door to the home in the days preceding the new year was widespread during the Song dynasty. The Chunlian (Spring Couplets) was written by Meng Chang, an emperor of the Later Shu (935–965 AD), during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period： »新年納餘慶，嘉節號長春 » (« Enjoying past legacies in the new year, the holiday foreseeing the long-lasting spring »). Eventually, men Ringospin Casino zhuang became a symbol of good luck, and people started sending them to friends on New Year’s Day, calling them by a new name, bai nian tie. During the Jin dynasty (266–420), people started the New Year’s Eve tradition of all-night revelry called shousui (守歲).
