New Year dates
The Chinese New Year dates are determined by the lunisolar Chinese calendar, which is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by Han culuture, notably the Koreans, the Japanese, the Tibetans, the Vietnamese and the pagan Bulgars.
Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon (some sources include New Year's Eve) and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. This occurs around the time of the full moon as each lunation is about 29.53 days in duration. In the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, on a date between January 21 and February 20. This means that the holiday usually falls on the second (very rarely third) new moon after the winter solstice. In traditional Chinese Culture, Lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which usually falls on either February 4 or 5.
The dates for the Spring Festival from 1996 to 2019 (in the Gregorian calendar) are listed below, along with the year's presiding animal zodiac and its earthly branch. The names of the earthly branches have no English counterparts and are not the Chinese translations of the animals.
| Animal | Branch | Dates |
|---|
| Rat | 子 Zi | February 19, 1996 | February 7, 2008 |
| Ox | 丑 Chou | February 7, 1997 | January 26, 2009 |
| Tiger | 寅 Yin | January 28, 1998 | February 14, 2010 |
| Rabbit | 卯 Mou | February 16, 1999 | February 3, 2011 |
| Dragon | 辰 Chen | February 5, 2000 | January 23, 2012 |
| Snake | 巳 Si | January 24, 2001 | February 10, 2013 |
| Horse | 午 Wu | February 12, 2002 | January 31, 2014 |
| Goat | 未 Wei | February 1, 2003 | February 19, 2015 |
| Monkey | 申 Shen | January 22, 2004 | February 8, 2016 |
| Rooster | 酉 You | February 9, 2005 | January 28, 2017 |
| Dog | 戌 Xu | January 29, 2006 | February 16, 2018 |
| Boar | 亥 Hai | February 18, 2007 | February 5, 2019 |
Many non-Chinese confuse their Chinese birth-year with their Gregorian birth-year. As the Chinese New Year starts in late January to mid February, the Chinese year dates from 1 January until that day in the new Gregorian year remain unchanged from the previous Gregorian year. For example, the 1989 year of the snake began on 6 February
1989. The year 1990 is considered by some people to be the year of the horse. However, the 1989 year of the snake officially ended on 26 January
1990. This means that anyone born from January 1 to 25 January
1990 was actually born in the year of the snake rather than the year of the horse.
Many online Chinese Sign calculators do not account for the non-alignment of the two calendars, incorrectly using Gregorian-calendar years rather than official Chinese New Year dates.
See Chinese astrology for a list of Chinese New Year dates for every year from 1900 to 2020, covering one full sexagesimal cycle (1924–1983) and portions of two others.
History
It is unclear when the beginning of the year was celebrated before the Qin Dynasty. It is possible that the beginning of the year began with month 1 during the Xia Dynasty, month 12 during the Shang Dynasty, and month 11 during the Zhou Dynasty in China[citation needed]. We know that intercalary months, used to keep the lunar calendar synchronized with the sun, were added after month 12 during both the Shang Dynasty (according to surviving oracle bones) and the Zhou Dynasty (according to Sima Qian). The first Emperor of China
Qin Shi Huang changed the beginning of the year to month 10 in 221 BC. Whether the New Year was celebrated at the beginning of month 10, of month 1, or both is unknown. In 104 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established month 1 as the beginning of the year, where it remains.
Myths
According to legend, in ancient China, the nián (年), a man-eating beast from the mountains, could silently infiltrate houses to prey on humans. The people later learned that the nian was sensitive to loud noises and the color red, so they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of the color red. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations. Guò nián (Simplified Chinese: 过年; Traditional Chinese: 過年), which means to celebrate the new year, literally means the passing of the nian beast.
Public holiday
Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in a number of countries and territories where a sizeable Chinese population resides. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. Also like many other countries in the world, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day when the New Year falls on a weekend.
Mainland China
Taiwan
Hong Kong and Macau
Malaysia
and
Singapore
Brunei and Indonesia
Other countries
The Vietnamese also celebrate their New Year, or Tết, on the same day as the Chinese calendar, with a 4-day public holiday. However, because of the time difference between Hanoi and Beijing (China), Tết may differ from the Chinese calendar by a day every 22nd or 23rd year. Korea now follows the Gregorian calendar for business and academic purposes, but the lunar new year is still marked with a three-day holiday, compared to a single day of holiday on January 1st. The Japanese now celebrate their New Year (shōgatsu) on 1 January, with the first three days being holidays.
Other official acknowledgements
A few countries around the world regularly issue postage stamps and/or numismatic coins to commemorate Chinese New Year. Although Chinese New Year is not institutionalized as public holiday, these countries recognize the significant number of their citizens who are of Chinese origin. The countries and territories that do so include Australia, Canada, Christmas Island, El Salvador, France, New Zealand, United States, and the Philippines.
Festivities
The Chinese Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, and the liberal use of the color red. Red packets are given to juniors and children by the married and elders.
Days before the new year
On the days before the New Year celebration, Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning, known as 'spring cleaning'. It is believed the cleaning sweeps away bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on New Year's Eve and the first day so that luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-panes a new coat of red paint. Homes are decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets.
Reunion dinner
A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far, get together for celebration. The venue will usually be in the home of the most senior member of the family. The New Year's Eve dinner is very sumptuous and traditionally includes chicken and fish. Fish (魚, yú) is included, but not eaten up completely (and the remainder is stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase 年年有餘 (nián nián yǒu yú), which means "may there be surpluses every year", sounds the same as "may there be fish every year."
Buddha's delight (Traditional Chinese: 羅漢齋; Simplified Chinese: 罗汉斋; pinyin: luóhàn zhāi), an elaborate vegetarian dish traditionally comprising 18 ingredients, is often served by Chinese families on the first day of the New Year. A type of black hair-like moss, pronounced "fat choy" in Cantonese, is also featured in Buddha's delight and other dishes, since its name sounds similar to "prosperity.". Hakkas usually serve kiu nyuk (扣肉) and ngiong tiu fu.
Most Northerners serve dumplings as the main dish in this festive season and many Chinese around the world do the same. It is believed that dumplings (餃子, jiǎozi) resemble ancient Chinese gold ingots (金元寶, pinyin, jīn yuán bǎo). Mandarin oranges are the most popular and most abundant fruit during Chinese New Year -- jin ju (金橘子) or kam (金) in Cantonese.
Red packets for the immediate family is sometimes distributed during the reunion dinner. These packets often contain money in certain numbers that reflect good luck and honorability.
First day of the new year
The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth. Many people, especially Buddhists, abstain from meat consumption on the first day because it is believed that this will ensure longevity for them.
Most importantly, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time where families will pay a visit to their oldest and most senior member of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.
Some families may invite a Lion dance troupe as a symbolic ritual to usher in the Lunar New Year as well as to evict bad spirits from the premises.
Second day of the new year
Incense is burned at the graves of ancestors as part of the offering and prayer ritual. The second day of the Chinese New Year is for married daughters to visit their birth parents. Traditionally, daughters who have been married may not have the opportunity to visit their birth families frequently.
Third day and fourth of the new year
The third day of Chinese New Year is generally accepted as an inappropriate day to visit relatives due to the following schools of thought. People may subscribe to one or both thoughts.
1) It is known as "chì kǒu" (赤口), meaning that it is easy to get into arguments. It is suggested that the cause could be the fried food and visiting during the first two days of the New Year celebration.
2) Families who had an immediate kin deceased in the past 3 years will not go house-visiting as a form of respect to the dead. The third day of the New Year is allocated to grave-visiting instead. Some people conclude it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all.
Fifth day of the new year
In northern China, people eat Jiǎo zi (饺子) (dumplings) on the morning of Po Wu. This is also the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth. In Taiwan, businesses traditionally re-open on this day, accompanied by firecrackers.
Seventh day of the new year
The seventh day, traditionally known as renri, the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older.
It is the day when tossed raw fish salad, yusheng, is eaten. People get together to toss the colorful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity. This is a custom primarily among the Chinese in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore, but not commonly practised by Chinese in other parts of the world. For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat.
Ninth day of the new year
The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade Emperor of Heaven (天公) in the Taoist Pantheon.
Additionally this day is heralded as the New Year of the Hokkiens. Come midnight of the eighth day of the new year, the Hokkiens will offer thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven. Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens from certain extermination generations ago. Tea is served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honoured person.
Fifteenth day of the new year
The fifteenth day of the new year is the last day of the traditional New Year's celebrations. It is celebrated as Yuánxiāo jié (元宵节), the Chinese Valentine's. otherwise known as Chap Goh Mei in Fujian dialect. Tangyuan (Simplified Chinese: 汤圆; Traditional Chinese: 湯圓; pinyin: tāngyuán), a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, is eaten this day. Depending on locality, the same day may also be celebrated as the Lantern Festival, or as the Chinese Valentine's Day.
