Red envelopes. New Years eve dinner. Dumplings. Red. Lion Dancing. Why do we do these things during Lunar New Year? What other traditions are there?
Lunar New Years is more than just money in red envelopes or meeting distant relatives during an annual dinner. Just like how much of the Christian faith has to do with Christmas being such a family holiday, Lunar New Year comes from Buddhist and Taoist traditions to bring the family together.
I grew up in Taiwan with a traditional Taiwanese family. For nearly twenty years, I have been celebrating Lunar New Years in Taipei, running from temples to temples, placing spring signs after spring signs. Lunar New Year is my favorite holiday. During my four years in college in New Jersey, I missed celebrating with my family (couldn’t leave school in the middle of February). Therefore, ever since I started working, I took vacations from work specifically to celebrate Lunar New Year with my family back in Taiwan. This year, again, I will be traveling back again …but this time around, I plan on writing about my experience and explaining these traditions a bit more.
To start things off, here’s a bit about another name for Lunar New Year:
Spring Festival
Simply, in Mandarin, Lunar New Year is (農曆新年), it is also known as spring festival (春節) to represent the coming of spring. Lunar calendar is based off of the calendar to assist farmers in better preparing their crop.
I will link each aspect of Lunar New Year as the 15 days of celebration (Lunar New Year lasts for 15 days) goes by. Be sure to check back.
Read about:
Where to go for Lunar New Year?
What food to eat during Lunar New Year?
Where to go to pray for love? academic? money?
…will update and link as each aspect gets explored.
Note: these are personal accounts and stories I grew up with. There are many variations of celebration, and these are mine.
If there are traditions that you are curious about or want to write about, email us at outreachfortaiwan@gmail.com
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