The Chinese New Year 2024: Year of the Dragon
The year of prosperity, good luck, strength, health and power.
Many Asian countries have geared up celebrating the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday in China and many other Asian countries. While China calls the Lunar New Year the Spring Festival (simplified Chinese: 春节; pinyin: Chūnjié), it is known as Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea.
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, 2024, the Chinese New Year starts today, the 10th of February, 2024—a symbol of great significance in Chinese cosmology. According to Chinese astrology (zodiac), each year is associated with one of the twelve animals, and the characteristics of these animals are believed to influence the traits of people born in that year.
Every time a new period begins, different questions arise. Allow me to entertain your curiosity.
This cherished festival, deeply rooted in Chinese culture, unites people of Chinese heritage in festivities that symbolize fresh beginnings and familial bonds. The occasion signals the start of the lunar calendar, inviting vibrant parades, dragon dances, and feasts amid fireworks and reunion dinners. The festivities last about 15 days, culminating in the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the lunar month.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DRAGON: SPRING FESTIVAL 2024
In the Chinese worldview, the Dragon is not perceived as a fearsome creature but as a divine being that bestows power and good fortune. It is associated with positive characteristics such as wisdom, vitality, nobility and benevolence. The Dragon represents primordial strength, prosperity, courage and renewal.
This legendary mythological being is more than just a creature in Chinese folklore. It is believed that the emperors were descendants of the Dragon, thus symbolizing imperial power. In addition, the Dragon is considered to have control over natural phenomena such as rain, which is essential for agriculture, and is credited with generating abundance and fertility in the land.
It has been forecasted that people born in the year of the Dragon will have a career shift; they should learn to adapt, grasp new opportunities, and be cautious with spending.
How do I know if I was born in the year of the Dragon? Don’t worry, I got you!: THE CHINESE ZODIAC
CELEBRATION OF THE NEW YEAR
As vibrant hues adorn streets and the tantalizing aroma of traditional delicacies wafts through the air, Chinese New Year 2024 heralds a time of renewal, prosperity, and cultural celebration. Ushering in the Year of the Dragon in 2024 provides a perfect opportunity to extend warm wishes, heartfelt messages, and inspiring quotes to loved ones, friends, and colleagues.
Festivities
The festivities include colourful parades, lion and dragon dances, family reunions, the exchange of red envelopes (with money inside as a symbol of good fortune), banquets with traditional dishes and fireworks. As the New Year is ascribed to the sign of the Dragon, it portends a year of intense energy and significant change.
It is a tradition for every family to thoroughly clean their house to sweep away any ill-fortune and make way for incoming good luck. Another custom is decorating windows and doors with red paper-cuts and couplets. Popular themes among these paper-cuts and couplets include good fortune or happiness, wealth, and longevity. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red envelopes.
Traditional Food
A reunion dinner is held on New Year’s Eve, during which family members gather for a celebration. The venue will usually be in or near the home of the most senior member of the family. The New Year’s Eve dinner is enormous and sumptuous. It traditionally includes meat dishes (pork and chicken) and fish.
Each dish served during Chinese New Year represents something special. Most reunion dinners also feature a communal hot pot, which is believed to signify the coming together of the family members for the meal.
In most areas, fish (simplified Chinese: 鱼; pinyin: yú) is included but not eaten completely (and the remainder is stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase “may there be surpluses every year” (simplified Chinese: 年年有余; pinyin: niánnián yǒu yú) sounds the same as “let there be fish every year.”
The typically selected fruits would be oranges, tangerines, and pomelos, which are round and have a “golden” colour, symbolizing fullness and wealth. Their lucky sound, when spoken, also brings good luck and fortune.
The Chinese pronunciation for orange in simplified Chinese is 橙; pinyin: chéng), which sounds the same as the Chinese for ‘success’ (成). Pomelos are believed to bring constant prosperity. Pomelo in Simplified Chinese: 柚; pinyin: yòu sounds similar to ‘to have’ (有 yǒu). Dumplings and spring rolls symbolize wealth, whereas sweet rice balls symbolize family togetherness.
Red Packets (Simplified Chinese: 红包; Pinyin: hóngbāo)
A cherished tradition involves elders gifting red envelopes to children and grandchildren to bestow good fortune for the year ahead. These envelopes contain money, symbolizing a prosperous start to the new year. Beyond elders, colleagues and friends often exchange hongbao. Red packets for the immediate family are sometimes distributed during the reunion dinner.
Red packets almost always contain money, usually from a couple of dollars to several hundred. Chinese superstitions favour amounts that begin with even numbers, such as 8 (八, pinyin: bā), a homophone for “wealth”, and 6 (六, pinyin: liù), a homophone for “smooth” — but not the number 4 (四, pinyin: sì), which is a homophone of “death”, and is, as such, considered unlucky in Asian culture. Odd numbers are also avoided, as they are associated with cash given during funerals (帛金, pinyin: báijīn).
A married person would not turn down the act of asking for red packets as it would mean they would be “out of luck” in the new year.
Fireworks and lanterns
No Lunar New Year celebration is complete without dazzling fireworks and lanterns. Each year, lanterns are illuminated to signify the banishment of darkness and the illumination of hope for the upcoming year. The lantern is one of the most prominent symbols of Chinese New Year. That is why the Chinese gather to hold up colourful lanterns at night on the 15th day of Chinese New Year, also known as the Lantern Festival.
Dragon Dances
Dragons are legendary animals that are helpful and friendly. They scare away evil spirits and bring wisdom, good luck, wealth and prosperity.
Dragons have unique features and powers that enable them to fly in the air, swim in the sea and walk on land. It is the tradition of the Han people to have dragon dances, which is why every year during Chinese New Year, one will see dragon dances performed in homes, condominiums and even shop fronts in shopping malls.
The dragons used in Dragon dances are made from cloth, held and raised by a pole, and this Dragon measures from a few metres long up to a hundred metres. It is said that the longer the Dragon, the luckier one will be if touched by the Dragon. Usually, there will be one man who acts as the head, and as the head, he entices the Dragon by using a pole, and the Dragon will follow him, seemingly searching for wisdom.
Sometimes, the Dragon may contain animated features like the blinking of the eye or the belching of smoke made by pyrotechnic devices. The lifeless fabric-made Dragon comes to life with the artistic dance team and the accompaniment of rhythmic music.
Dragon dances are performed during Chinese New Year to scare away evil spirits and bring good luck and fortune for the coming year, and they can be done in the daytime or at night.
GREETINGS FOR THE NEW YEAR
The Chinese New Year is often accompanied by loud, enthusiastic greetings, often referred to as 吉祥話 (jíxiánghuà) in Mandarin. Some of the most common greetings include:
Happy New Year! — Xīnniánkuàilè! — 新年快乐！
Congratulations, and be prosperous! – Gōngxǐfācá！- 恭喜发财
Everlasting peace year after year! — Suìsuì-píng’ān — 歲歲平安
Similarly, 年年有餘 (niánnián yǒu yú) is a wish for surpluses and bountiful harvests every year.
我祝你恭喜发财！
I wish you a prosperous and happy new year!
