Celebrating the Lunar New Year

The arrival of a new year often feels like a fresh start. People across the world take the new year as an opportunity to celebrate with friends and family, eat great food, and set goals for the year to come. Interestingly, not every culture celebrates the new year at the same time. Some cultures measure time with a calendar based on the position of the sun, also known as a solar calendar. The solar calendar contains 12 months of similar lengths, and it marks January as the first month. Meanwhile, some countries and cultures instead use a lunar calendar –  a calendar which measures months based on the phases of the moon. Many countries actually combine elements from a lunar and solar calendar to create a lunisolar calendar, which measures the year using the position of both the moon and the sun.

Each cycle of the moon, and therefore each lunar month, is about 29.5 days. This is shorter than the solar month, which usually lasts 30-31 days. Because lunar months and years depend on the moon, the exact date of the lunar new year changes from year to year. In addition to this, not every culture counts the same lunar month as “first.” For example, China celebrates the second new moon after the winter solstice as the beginning of a new year, while many parts of India celebrate their first month, Chaitra, in the spring.

Just as countries that use a solar calendar hold big celebrations on January 1st, countries on a lunar or lunisolar calendar hold special, traditional festivities to ring in their lunar new year. Peoples all over the world celebrate in their own ways — here is how just a handful of cultures memorialize the day.

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Many countries in eastern Asia use the Chinese lunar calendar, so the Chinese New Year is one of the most commonly celebrated lunar new years. It falls between January 21st and February 20th. The Chinese celebration of the new year began sometime between 202 BCE and 220 CE. It is a time to pray for success, to pay respects to ancestors, and to feast with family.

Two famous Chinese New Year traditions are hanging red decorations and setting off fireworks. These stem from a legend about a village that defeated a mythical beast. The great monster Nian would visit the village each year and eat innocent citizens, especially children. One year, an old man appeared and said he would stay to get revenge on the Nian while the villagers hid. He covered the town with red papers and set off firecrackers all night to ward off the Nian. It never came. So every year after that, in order to scare away the beast, the villagers decorated their houses with red paper, lit fires, and set off firecrackers, and the Nian never bothered them again.

Today, Chinese families prepare for the new year by giving their homes a thorough cleaning. The cleaning is meant to sweep away the bad luck of the previous year. On New Year’s Eve, families usually eat a large feast for dinner, and they may hold parties or visit local temples to commemorate their ancestors and pray.

The New Year celebration lasts up to 16 days. Each day has a specific custom or celebration associated with it. The first day is traditionally to welcome deities when, as the tradition goes, they arrive at midnight. People dance and burn bamboo sticks, which crackle loudly when set on fire. Extended families exchange gifts to symbolize wealth and good luck, and older family members give the children red envelopes full of money. Business owners give cash bonuses to their employees, too. Other traditions during these 16 days differ based on region and religion — for example, on the seventh day, Chinese Buddhists typically refrain from eating meat. The last day of the celebration is usually the Lantern Festival. On this day, families light candles outside their homes to guide wayward spirits, and at night children carry ornate paper lanterns down the street.

Celebrations and Reflections Across Asia

Other countries in Asia celebrate the lunar new year with similar customs, each a little different based on their own histories and beliefs. For example, many groups in India also celebrate a lunar new year around February. Common traditions include drawing colorful patterns on the floor, decorating houses with mango leaves or the flowers of various fruit trees, sharing special feasts, and dancing.

Not all New Year celebrations are loud and colorful. For example, In Bali, Indonesia, the Hindu new year celebration, Nyepi, is a time for silence and self-reflection. Everyone must refrain from doing work, lighting fires or lamps, traveling, playing games, and sometimes even eating or speaking. The day after the new year is when extended families may gather.

The Islamic calendar, followed throughout much of Asia, North Africa, and around the globe, is lunar as well. Because of the way this calendar calculates months, the Islamic New Year is not tied to a particular season. The Islamic New Year is also focused on self-reflection, rather than on loud parades or parties, and most families celebrate with quiet prayer sessions and family dinners. Historically, the first day of the first month, Muharram, is considered to be when the Prophet Muhammad fled religious persecution to establish a place where he and his followers could freely practice their own religion.

Around the globe

People all across the world celebrate new years on days other than January 1st. This includes some Indigenous cultures in the Americas, including the Iroquois and the Cherokee, some countries in Africa such as Ethiopia and Eritrea, and cultural and religious groups like the Jews. And that’s just a few! Whether a society measures the year by the sun or the moon, the turning of a new year is a time for celebration, reflection, and preparation for the future.