Lunar New Year is always a fun time of year for Asian households. Families will get together, eat food, play games, dress in cultural clothes, and so much more. It’s often assumed that Lunar New Year is only celebrated by the Chinese. But in reality, almost every Asian nation celebrates it; Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, and many more.
Lunar New Year comes from a very old story about a monster named Nian. Every year on the first night of the year the monster would come out and wreak havoc on the nearby town. The people were terrified and they never knew what to do about it. They just wanted to live their lives in peace without this horrible monster coming out and killing their friends and family and destroying their village. One day, a young soldier came by and told everyone that if they wore red and made loud sounds it would scare the monster away. So the next time the monster came out, they painted everything red and wore red clothes, lit firecrackers, and made lots of noise on whatever they could, and it worked! The monster was scared away and the people didn’t have anything to fear anymore. They celebrated with good food, spending time with family, and giving out red envelopes which have money in them to the kids.
Ever since then during the new year, people would wear red and light fireworks and firecrackers. They would eat dumplings and noodles to have good luck in the new year. Family members give out red envelopes full of cash to kids. Another tradition is to clean your house right before the new year so that the house is clean of bad spirits and bad luck and the new year can bring in good luck. If you were to clean your house right after the new year, you would be cleaning away all the good luck that the new year has brought you.
Every year is a different animal according to the Lunar calendar. This year is the year of the Dragon, and last year was the year of the Rabbit. There is a 12-animal cycle which also has its own folk story behind it, but we won’t get into that right now.
People born in the year of the Dragon (1988, 2000. 2012, 2024) are said to be destined for good fortune and greatness! And historically in Asian countries, there are more babies born in the year of the Dragon than any other. Everyone hopes their baby is going to be a Dragon baby!
Wishing the happiest of Lunar New Year to all!! 恭喜发财!!
