favorite ways to celebrate lunar new year; how we celebrate the chinese new year
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we absolutely love celebrating the chinese new year. it’s our favorite holiday, and we celebrate it in a variety of ways.
but first, a bit about using “lunar new year” vs. “chinese year year”. many cultures use a lunar calendar (based on the phases of the moon) and some of them celebrate the new year on the same date. for example, vietnamese tet and korean seollal are celebrated the same date as the chinese new year. so, to be more inclusive, “lunar new year” should be used when talking about the date more broadly. not only is it more inclusive, but it combats the (white) western assumption that “all asians are chinese” that so many asian people experience. however, when referring to a specific holiday, it’s best to use the specific terminology for that holiday! we celebrate the chinese new year at home, so that’s what we call it when we’re talking about our own celebration. when i reach out to vietnamese friends who celebrate tet, i wish them a happy tet even though we celebrate chinese new year. here, i’ll mostly be using chinese new year because i’m sharing about our own celebration.
in general, chinese holidays are full of symbolism and the new year is no exception! there are many practices, rules, and traditions around this holiday, especially as it’s the most important holiday for many chinese families. the myth of the nian monster that came to eat chinese villagers at the start of each spring brings three traditions - red, noise and light. each of these were used to scare away, and ultimately defeat, the nian monster. a party ensued to celebrate the defeat, which became an annual celebration complete with red clothing and decorations, noisy firecrackers and beautiful lanterns to ensure the monster stays away and springtime can be ushered in with joy.
broadly, spending time with loved ones and enjoying delicious food are central to celebrating the chinese new year. our own celebration has changed over the years and can even look different year to year. when i was a child we would have a big meal and then my siblings and i would get to choose from a pile of red envelopes in hopes of getting the one with the most money. (believe it or not, i picked the one with the most money almost every single year. money luck that disappeared with adulthood - ha!)
as i got older, time with family (which often involved travel) and a good meal became more important than the red envelopes. and now, it’s all about making it fun and exciting for kiddo. here are some of the ways we’ve celebrated more recently, including our own spins on traditional practices.
decorating
decorating our spaces for the lunar new year is one of the best ways we acknowledge the season. since we don’t really decorate for christmas, we usually spend that time pulling out our chinese new year decorations. it’s fun to re-discover all the beautiful things we’ve collected over the years, as well as finding new things to celebrate the chinese zodiac animal of the year.
this year (2023 in the gregorian calendar) is the year of the rabbit. we added these rabbit-themed candle holders (and will work perfectly for mid-autumn moon festival, too!) and this cute bunny doormat to our collection this year. we also got beautiful rabbit ornaments for our zodiac tree: from this seller and this seller.
what’s a zodiac tree? it’s something we made up! when i was a kid my mom took a fallen branch, spray painted it white, stuck it in a basket, and then had us make origami ornaments for it. she pulled it out every december - just a quirky, creative thing unique to our family. our zodiac tree is a spin on that. we take one of our houseplants, a chinese palm, and decorate it with ornaments of the 12 chinese zodiac animals. each year, kiddo gets an ornament representing his own zodiac animal as well as one for the animal of the new year.
additionally, we hang lots of lanterns! we have multiple sets, including these red lanterns and these beautiful rabbit lanterns. we also hang (and make) decorations representing firecrackers.
crafts
in addition to purchasing decorations, we always spend time making some new ones each year. we’ve done paper crafts for the ox and lion and are already getting ready to do this rabbit paper craft from grace lin.
we’ve also made these firecrackers and these lanterns. lantern festival marks the end of the new year celebrations (and beginning of spring!), so we like to make lots of colorful lanterns for that holiday, too!
this activity book is also a fun one for learning about the holiday while coloring and making simple crafts.
food
this is what we’re all here for, right? again we do a mix of traditional and non-traditional here. and we rarely use the same recipes each year. here’s what’s on our menu this year:
long life noodles - these noodles represent longevity and are a part of many celebration feasts. this is the recipe we’re having this year.
scallion pancakes - a dim sum favorite year round! they can be a bit tedious to make, but well worth the effort! we’re making this recipe for the second year in a row.
steamed buns - another dim sum favorite, we try a new recipe each year. this year we’re making curried chicken buns from this asian dumpling cookbook.
dumplings - we do dumpling wednesdays in our house and have tried many, many recipes. dumplings are on every new year table and represent wealth. since we’re doing chicken buns, we’re going to try these vegetable dumplings this year.
bok choy - another one we enjoy year round and regularly. steamed, sautéed, we’re always trying something different with these, but they always manage to make it to the table for chinese new year. this year we’re trying this recipe.
cucumber salad - this is usually a summer salad, but the asian market had beautiful cucumbers so we decided to add them to our chinese new year menu for the first time. this salad is always super simple and delicious. we’re making the recipe from this cookbook.
almond cookies - these aren’t super traditional, but some regions of china do enjoy them for the new year. this year we bought some pre-made cookies, but usually we make this (non-traditional) recipe.
tray of togetherness - this is essentially a candy box filled with delicious treats and snacks. each house has their own and for 15 days people visit with neighbors, friends and families, sharing their treats and company.
oranges and tangerines - these symbolize good luck and happiness. they are often given as gifts. we keep bowls around the house for the entire month of celebration.
red envelopes
hongbao, leisees, red envelopes, red pockets… they go by many names but they all mean the same thing: money, money, money. unfortunately for us adults, it’s really money for the kids. it’s very traditional for adults to give children money in red envelopes - and there are lots of rules around who gives what. kiddos wait all year for this special occasion to fill their pockets!
other gifts
generosity and sharing is a strong theme of chinese new year (along with other chinese holidays). however, wrapped gifts are not traditional. we have chosen to replace the gift-giving of christmas with doing bigger gifts for kiddo on chinese new year. we always try to make it extra special and save the things kiddo is most wanting for the new year. since we’ll be traveling a lot more this year, we’re not doing an especially large gift. here are a few things he’ll be unwrapping this year.
lego minecraft panda haven: lego have become a theme of our new year since each year we do the lunar new year sets like this one, this one and this one.
clixo magnetic toy: kiddo is really into puzzles like rubik’s cubes, so i’m planning to bring this along on our next road trip for entertainment in the van.
twistable crayons: kiddo also loves art, so this is another activity we’ll bring on our cross-country road-trip to avoid bits of broken crayons all over the van.
inflatable travel footrest: ok, this might seem like an odd gift for a child, but kiddo has been asking for a stool for the van. the seats in our camper van are too far from any kind of table surface for him to use comfortably, so i’m hoping this footrest will serve multiple functions and provide a good seat when we’re stationary.
books
we have so. many. chinese new year books! we love them and no matter how many we get, we always seem to add one more to the collection each year. check out this blog post for our favorite children’s books about chinese new year.
other traditions
as i mentioned previously, there are a lot of traditions and superstitions to follow. there are things like deep-cleaning the house that we almost never get to. and then there are things like wearing red outfits that we do each year! there is an overall theme of “welcoming in the new” that runs through many of the traditions. having a fresh, clean slate to welcome in the new year. so, things like new clothes and haircuts are ways to prepare. we try to do this as much as makes sense for us. this year we got these sweet bunny shirts. another tradition is bringing in spring blooms, often flowering peach, cherry, or plum branches. we usually can find these right in our own neighborhood!
i hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about chinese new year and how we celebrate it as a family. i’d love to know your family’s favorite holiday and how you celebrate it - including any new traditions you’ve started. wishing you a happy new year!
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