On This Day: Lunar New Year

On This Day for the Lunar New Year by Britannica.

Today we look at a 15-day festival that moves according to the cycles of the moon and moves a quarter of the world’s population, with a focus on how it is celebrated in China.

We’ll start with a little history. The Lunar New Year can be traced to the Shang dynasty, China’s first recorded dynasty, which lasted from 1600 to 1046 BCE. Seasons were understood through the crop cycle, and sacrifices to gods and ancestors became part of a yearly celebration expressing thanks for food, clothing, and shelter, all of which were attributed to higher powers.

Like many Chinese festivals, the Lunar New Year is steeped in myth, and one of the most repeated is the story of Nian: a hideous beast believed to feast on human flesh on New Year’s Day. Luckily, Nian was an easily frightened monster, afraid of the color red, loud noises and fire. And so red decorations, lanterns, and fireworks became integral parts of the year’s beginning.

It’s also interesting to note that the name “Nian” means “year.” That meaning solidified in the Zhou dynasty.

Ever since 105 BCE the Lunar New Year festival has been celebrated beginning with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ending 15 days later, on the first full moon of the lunar calendar. Since—as its name suggests—the lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, the festival dates vary from year to year as we see it on the Western calendar. If you’re looking at a Western calendar, you can count on the Lunar New Year to begin sometime between January 21 and February 20.

So how do people celebrate the Lunar New Year?

In the lead-up to the festival, celebrants might begin by cleaning their houses. This custom is called the “sweeping of the grounds,” and it is a literal representation of cleaning out anything you don’t want to bring into the next year—whether that’s dust, dirt, or even a personal misfortune. By tradition, people have used the time before the Lunar New Year to reunite with friends they’ve fallen out with and to take a close look at the past year’s mistakes. Businesses and individuals also have used this week to settle debts or accounts…or, if you can’t afford to pay up, to hide from your creditor up until New Year’s Day. And while it’s been considered bad taste to pursue a debtor from one year into the next, some creditors have skirted this rule by carrying a lantern with them on the hunt: even when the sun comes up, they can pretend it’s still the night before the new year.

Other traditions are less focused on personal transgressions. Family members often exchange red envelopes of money, and, though New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are reserved for family togetherness and religious ceremonies, the rest of the festival is meant to be shared with family and friends. There’s dancing, fireworks, and—at the very end—the Lantern Festival, when houses are lit up with colorful lanterns. People feast together on traditional food like yuanxiao (sweet dessert dumplings), fagao (Chinese fortune cake), and yusheng (raw fish salad).

Finally, a few words on the zodiac connected to the Chinese lunar calendar. This zodiac is not as popular as it was before China modernized, but yes, it does still have followers. Like that of the West, it’s also based on twelve different signs. However, the signs are not linked to constellations. Instead, the signs are linked to specific creatures, with one sign connected to the full lunar year: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. The signs change on the Lunar New Year. Every twelve years, the cycle starts over. Each of the signs are said to signify qualities that have been associated in traditional Chinese culture with each of these animals. A person born in a year of the Pig, for example, may be considered diligent, generous and peace-loving. A child of an Ox year may be considered honest, responsible and loyal.

Adding spin to these twelve animal signs are five traditional elements: Fire, Earth, Metal (sometimes referred to as Gold), Water, and Wood. Each is associated with only some years. Like the animals, the elements impart meanings of their own and go through their own repeating cycle. Much of the Western year 2021, for example, lies in the year of the Metal Ox. The gender of the newborn child may also select or exclude specific qualities associated with the year’s sign, and the variables don’t end there. Furthermore while different sources often cite similar qualities for a given sign or element, they may not necessarily agree. For very basic purposes, a reading of a year’s symbolic animal may suffice to describe one’s fortune. But if you seek a detailed reading specific to you, then you may need a wisely chosen professional. Mind you, for our own professional reasons, we at Britannica neither endorse nor deny this fortune-telling activity.

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! We hope you’ve learned a thing or two—and if you still have questions, head over to Britannica.com. We have the balanced and researched stories.

Today’s program was written by Meg Matthias and edited by yours truly. For Britannica, I’m Kurt Heintz.

This program is copyrighted by Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.