Lunar New Year begins this Saturday. People across the world celebrate to commemorate the beginning of the new year on the Lunar calendar and the arrival of spring. There are 12 animals on the Chinese zodiac, and each one is associated with a new year. This year is the Year of the Dragon, which symbolizes power, nobility and good luck.
The Lunar New Year is accompanied by a variety of traditions and lively celebrations, many of which surround the Chinese legend of a monster named Nian. As the story goes, the monster would attack villagers at the start of each year, but it was afraid of loud noises, bright lights, and the color red.
Now, Lunar New Year celebrations are sure to include those three things, in order to ward off the monster and ring in the new year. Fireworks and firecrackers are the source of loud noises and bright lights...additionally, it is custom to wear red clothing and put up red decorations to symbolize good luck. Oranges are often put out as a sign of wealth.
People often spend Lunar New Year surrounded by family and feasts. Many families carry their own traditions with them to celebrate the annual holiday. Xinyu “Sigrid” Xu is a grad student studying communication management. She has celebrated Lunar New Year in Shanghai.
Xinyu “Singrid” Xu: I was born and raised in Shanghai, so it’s sort of the East Coast of China. We do celebrate the Lunar New Year’s Eve, not the day. It’s the day before, like Christmas Eve here. And for our family tradition it’s to get together, usually the grandparents, parents and the children, get together and we have a wonderful feast at night. We would eat hot pot. We have all our things, put it in the hot pot and let it boil, and we dip in different sauces.
And she has celebrated in Los Angeles.
Xu: I’ve decorated my house, so far, and I will invite my friends tomorrow night to my house to celebrate the New Year.
Elders give young people money in red envelopes called lai see or hong bao, for good luck. Additionally, the dragon represents good fortune in Chinese culture, so the annual parade often involves a dragon dance, with a large dragon puppet operated by talented performers, who parade the dragon through the streets.
The traditional song of the new year is “GongXi GongXi,” which translates to “congratulations, congratulations” in Mandarin.
USC has its own celebrations for Lunar New Year. The USC Pacific Asia Museum will host a celebration on February 10th.. It will include dances, crafts, and storytelling...
Before that, we’ll celebrate here at Wallis Annenberg Hall on the eve of the new year with food and festivities.