Lawrenceville’s Lunar New Year

          Originating from China’s Shang Dynasty, Lunar New Year (LNY) is widely celebrated throughout East and Southeast Asia and has been brought to America. Lunar New Year is the beginning of the new year  on the lunisolar calendar, usually between the end of January and the beginning of February, lasting 15 days. Preceding the days before LNY, the house is cleaned to get ready for a new year with festivities lasting a full moon. On LNY, families get together, wear red, set off firecrackers, and children kowtow while receiving red packets. Red is an auspicious color that symbolizes good luck and fortune, warding off evil spirits. In the first few days of LNY, clothes cannot be washed as the action symbolizes washing away the good luck. 

          For celebrants, LNY is a time to get together and feast with family. As the largest holiday in its celebrating countries, the holiday includes a three-week-long break for time to rest, erase bad luck from the past, and plan for new hope in the future. In Vietnam, the first day of LNY is reserved for family while the second is for friends—community is emphasized throughout the holiday. Visiting friends and family is for children to show respect for elders, receive red packets, and spend time worshiping ancestors. Before LNY, windows and doors are decorated with red paper-cuts and couplets to spread wealth, health, and longevity.  

          LNY was born out of fear and legend. According to legend, a beast named Nian (in Mandarin Chinese, Nian translates to “year”) would appear at the end of each year to attack and eat villagers. Loud noises, the color red, and bright lights were used to deter the beast, hence the firecrackers, red clothes, and lanterns in abundance during the holiday. The red packets of money, in Chinese called “Ya Sui Qian,” also come from a myth of a beast called “Sui.” On New Year’s Eve, the beast would chase after sleeping children but the money under the childrens’ pillows would keep them safe. The name itself, Ya Sui Qian, means “suppressing Sui money.” According to another Chinese tradition and myth, each lunar year has a zodiac animal, which cycles every 12 years—2024 is the year of the dragon. Every year is a different animal sign with its own stereotype of the year’s personality, just like an astrological zodiac sign. 

          During LNY celebrations, delicious food is served. Traditional Korean dishes include sliced rice cake soup, mung bean pancakes, and ginger cookies. Chinese dishes include dumplings, fish, sweet rice balls, and rice cake. Vietnamese dishes include spring rolls, boiled chicken, and xoi gac, which is made from rice and fruit. All cultures incorporate rice! In larger scale celebration parties, lion dancing is a tradition across Asian cultures that entails mimicking a lion’s movement in a lion costume to bring good luck and fortune. It is normally performed by two dancers, one manipulating the head while the other controls the rear end. The dance is composed of martial arts moves, which are performed to an energetic drum beat. 

          This Lunar New Year, make sure to pop out to Lawrenceville’s celebrational events, which include student-hosted hotpot, and firecrackers, as well as  try out the rice cakes or other traditional foods served in Tsai Commons