Dragon and Son-in-law Day: Everything you want to know about Chinese New Year

In many parts of Asia, New Year is not celebrated on December 31, but a few weeks later. We explain everything you need to know about Chinese New Year, so that you don’t come across as a complete cultural philistine.

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is just one of many Asian Lunar New Years. It is based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar and falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. This always takes place between January 21 and February 21. In 2024, New Year’s Day falls on February 10 – celebrations begin the night before and last 15 days.

The New Year is mainly celebrated in East Asia, i.e. China, Taiwan, Korea, Mongolia, Okinawa and Vietnam. However, in Japan, the New Year has been heralded on January 1 since 1873, just like in the West. Thailand, for example, follows its own lunar calendar and celebrates New Year’s Eve on April 13 this year.

The first 15 days of the New Year in China are all about family. This is proven by the fact that every year on the Lunar New Year a real migration of peoples takes place. Because one in five Chinese people do not work where their family comes from, they have to travel from home and abroad to celebrate the new year together.

In the days before The house is thoroughly cleaned and extensive meals are prepared.

At the Evening before New Year’s Day the reunion dinner will take place. Here, several generations of a family gather at the table and traditionally eat eight different dishes – in China, eight means wealth. You stay up past midnight and leave the windows open so the happiness can flow in. People also like to watch the CCTV New Year’s Gala together on national television.

At the New Year’s Day people meet relatives, visit graves and give each other presents. This is usually money given away in red envelopes. The color red means happiness, prosperity and joy and can be seen everywhere on these days: from clothing to decorations.

Each day during this time is dedicated to a specific purpose, for example: Son-in-law’s day, where fathers are expected to entertain their sons-in-law. The two-week celebrations conclude with lantern festival. People gather on the street, look at the homemade lanterns, there are fireworks and food and you watch lion and dragon dances.

According to the Chinese horoscope, the coming year should be a particularly good year because it is characterized by the dragon. In Chinese mythology, this animal sign is said to be lucky, good, wealthy and intelligent. The animal sign of the year is still combined with an element, this year it is wood – therefore 2024 is the year of the Wooden Dragon.

The Chinese horoscope recognizes twelve zodiac signs: Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep/Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger and Rabbit. They alternate in this order year after year. There are also the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water, which change every two years.

(anb)