How to Celebrate Spring Festival like a Chinese

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most important and widely celebrated festival in Chinese culture. It varies in date but typically falls between late January and early February.

The festival lasts for several days and is characterized by various customs and traditions. These include cleaning and decorating homes to invite good luck, giving red envelopes with money as a symbol of prosperity, setting off firecrackers to ward off evil spirits, and preparing special celebratory dishes. Family is central to the festivities, with relatives coming together for reunion dinners and honoring ancestors through prayers and offerings.

The festival also features vibrant parades, lion and dragon dances, and elaborate lantern displays. Lunar New Year is a time of joy, hope, and renewal, bringing communities together to mark the start of a new lunar cycle.

During Spring Festival, Chinese people traditionally eat a variety of symbolic foods:

1. 饺子(jiǎo zi) -- Dumplings

Dumplings are a significant food during Spring Festival in China, especially in the northern provinces. The tradition is well practiced only because the shape resembles old Chinese currency, which is believed to bring hope and wealth, but also because making dumplings with family and friends is a way to bond.

Traditionally, families gather on New Year's Eve to make and eat dumplings at midnight. However, depending on the region, they can be enjoyed as both a main dish and a snack throughout different days of the festival.

2. 鱼(yú) -- Fish

No matter it's in the north, or in the south, fish is a popular dish to have during Spring Festival. 鱼(yú), with the same pronunciation as 余(yú), symbolizes prosperity and abundance. Spring rolls

3. 春卷(chūn juǎn) -- Spring rolls

Spring rolls are usually eaten during Spring Festival in China, hence the name. Eating spring rolls is a way to welcome the arrival of spring. The golden cylindrical-shaped rolls represent gold bars, which symbolize wealth and a fresh start.

4. 年糕(nián gāo) -- Glutinous rice cake

Nián gāo, a traditional rice cake with various fillings, is a popular food consumed during the Spring Festival.

Originating from the Han Dynasty, it was initially used as a sacrifice to heaven on the Eve of the Spring Festival. Legend has it that nián gāo can be used to appease the Kitchen God, who returns to heaven before the festival begins.

Another reason why Chinese people like 年糕 is because 糕 sounds just like 高. The food contains Chinese people's hope for a better year ahead.

5. 汤圆(tāng yuán) -- Sticky rice ball

Tāng yuán, sticky rice balls with a sweet or savory filling, is a traditional food often served during the Chinese New Year.

Sweet or savory, having it on New Year's Eve or on the day of Lantern Festival, northern people and southern people may have different choices. However, the concept is all the same - 圆 implies reunion and happiness.

Don't forget to wear red clothes, give and receive red packets (hongbao) containing money for good luck, and set off fireworks or firecrackers to ward off evil spirits.

2024 is the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac, representing power, luck, and prosperity. People born in the Year of the Dragon are believed to possess traits such as strength, confidence, and success.