The Chinese New Year began on 22 January, 2023 and Ireland will be celebrating it as part of its lunar festival.
The Lunar New Year is also referred to as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. It is one of the most important Asian holidays, marked by family reunions, feasting and gifts.
In Ireland, we have immigrants from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and more celebrating the festival.
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Fireworks, music and lanterns filled streets across Asia over the weekend as locals began celebrations that are expected to last for 15 days.
Commonly known as the Spring Festival in China, Lunar New Year is a 15-day celebration marked by many traditions.
More than 1.5 billion people celebrate Lunar New Year each year with colourful traditions and activities to welcome a new year and wish for luck and prosperity.
As with many winter solstice celebrations, the symbolic darkness of night is banished by the light of fireworks, lanterns and candles. Man-made paper lanterns are hung by the hundreds in public areas, bringing good luck to the new year.
What is the Lunar New Year all about?
In 2023, the Lunar New Year falls on January 22.
Lunar New Year is a festival that marks the first new moon of the lunisolar (according to the moon and sun) calendars traditionally used in many East Asian countries.
The festival signals the beginning of spring, and it is a time to say goodbye to the old year and usher in a new one.
Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations of the year among East and Southeast Asian cultures, including Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean communities, among others.
It is also celebrated where Chinese overseas communities can be found.
Lunar New Year may be called different names in different East Asian countries and communities, but it is usually celebrated on the same date with similar celebrations.
The celebrations bring in a new year of luck and prosperity.
There are dragon dances, performances and festival parades with music and acrobatics.
The festivities continue for two weeks, finishing with a special lantern festival, which signals the end of the New Year celebration period.
Zodiac animals
Each year is marked by the zodiac in the form of an animal.
2022 was the year of the tiger, and 2023 is the year of the rabbit.
People born in the years of the rabbit sign (2011, 1999, 1987, 1975, 1963, 1951) are said to be quick-witted and empathetic.
Each year in the Lunar calendar is represented by one of 12 zodiac animals included in the cycle of 12 stations or "signs" along the apparent path of the sun through the cosmos.
The 12 zodiac animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
In addition to the animals, five elements of earth, water, fire, wood and metal are also mapped onto the traditional lunar calendar.
Each year is associated with an animal that corresponds to an element.
Those born in the Year of the Rabbit are said to be talented at many things.
They are affectionate people, often excelling at forming close relationships. However, they also appreciate tranquillity and seek out peace.
Lunar New Year foods and traditions
Lunar New Year is a festival rich in traditions and customs.
Each culture celebrates the Lunar New Year differently with various foods and traditions that symbolise prosperity, abundance and togetherness.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people eat long noodles to symbolise a wish for longevity.
Another popular recipe for New Year is Chinese dumplings, symbolising good luck and wealth. Families wrap them up and eat them as the clock strikes midnight.
"Good Luck" is also a common theme of the New Year. Many children receive "lucky money" in red envelopes. Sometimes offerings are made to temples.
In preparation for the Lunar New Year, houses are thoroughly cleaned to rid them of spirits, which might have collected during the old year.
Cleaning is also meant to open space for good will and good luck.
Some households hold rituals to offer food and paper icons to ancestors.
Others post red paper and banners with messages of good health and fortune in front of, and inside, homes.
The holiday is full of superstitions. It is believed that there are many things you should not do or else you may incur bad fortune.
These include: avoiding washing hair and clothes (as it washes good fortune away), only saying happy things and avoiding saying unlucky words like 'death' and 'sickness' (as they invite curses), avoiding wearing black or white (which are associated with mourning)
China
Chinese New Year is thought to date back to the Shang Dynasty in the 14th century BC Under Emperor Wu of Han (140–87 BC).
In 1996, China instituted a week-long vacation during the holiday—now officially called Spring Festival—giving people the opportunity to travel home and celebrate the new year.
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