Lunar New Year is a festival that lasts 15 days (sometimes more). This is important in China, South Korea, and Vietnam. This spring festival is centered around removing bad luck and welcoming good luck for the New Year. It is bad luck to sweep or clean your house right after the celebration, so people don’t clean their houses till a few days later to not sweep away all the good fortune. It is also known for them to gamble during this 15 day period.
According to the AP News article What is lunar new year and how is it celebrated?, “It begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends 15 days later on the first full moon. Because the lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, the dates of the holiday vary slightly each year, falling between late January and mid-February.”
This year is the Year of the Dragon. Other zodiacs celebrated in different years consist of 12 different animals which are a rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
A lot of people wonder why the color red is used a lot and that is because people want to scare away a monster named Nian. Nian is a hideous monster who ate human flesh on New Year’s Day and he was scared of the color red. “The man claimed to have scared Nian away by hanging red banners on the door, lighting firecrackers and donning red clothing,” stated CNN News.
Shopping for this holiday and cleaning is a beloved tradition. To kick things off, on New Lunar Year’s Eve people have a big dinner with family, like a family reunion. When the celebration starts people organize big parades, carnivals, and festivals featuring lion and dragon dancers.
Then finally on the last day they do a lantern festival. People carry out lanterns to mark the end of a celebration. It is bad luck to sweep or clean your house right after the celebration, so people don’t clean their houses till a few days later to not sweep away all the good fortune.
