Lunar New Year
Billions of Asians celebrate the turn of the year and welcome the Year of the Rabbit
This year’s Lunar New Year is marked by the rabbit
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For many people, the new year is already three weeks old. However, according to some traditional Asian calendar systems, the new year does not begin until this Sunday. At the turn of the year, billions of people – mainly in Asia – welcome the year of the rabbit.
A new lunar year begins in many Asian countries this Sunday. After the year of the tiger, this year marks the year of the rabbit. Google is also celebrating – and is dedicating its own doodle to the new lunar year.
The Lunar New Year takes place on a different day each year and is usually celebrated in Asian countries on the day of the new moon, which falls between January 21 and February 20 according to the Chinese lunisolar calendar. The celebrations then last for several days and, similar to ours at Christmas, the families come together to celebrate, eat and drink together.
Lunar Year is celebrated in many Asian countries
The Lunar New Year is also often referred to as Chinese New Year. And basically it means the same thing. However, the festival is not only celebrated in China and that’s what people in South Korea and elsewhere call it Lunar New Year. In China, the Lunar New Year is the most important and largest traditional festival. Streets and buildings are decorated with red lanterns and red signs are stuck on doors.
In Korea, for example, the festival is known as “Seollal” and is the longest holiday of the year. As the Lunar New Year approaches, a ceremony is held to give gifts to relatives and friends and to honor their ancestors. Afterwards you can enjoy the traditional New Year’s dish “Tteokguk”, a Korean rice cake soup.
Also known as “Losar” in Tibet, the festival is celebrated over a two-week period from December to January. In Vietnam, the New Year festival is called “Tết”. It is also the largest traditional festival there.
The Year of the Rabbit begins with the Lunar New Year
Incidentally, while many Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year, Japan is an exception. There they celebrate according to the Western calendar and celebrate the turn of the year on January 1st, but without fireworks.
With the new lunar year, the year of the rabbit is celebrated. The is one of twelve zodiac signs in Chinese astrology and fourth in the order. One of many legends surrounding the signs of the zodiac tells of the mythical Jade Emperor, who once summoned various animals to celebrate a festival together. The twelve animals of the signs of the zodiac then arrived one after the other – which is why the said order came about.
According to Fengshui teachings, the rabbit was the fourth animal to come to the riverbank for the feast of the Jade Emperor. The last rabbit years were 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 and 2011. The rabbit is considered gentle, friendly, compassionate, attentive, smart, creative, patient, but also arrogant, tending towards pessimism and a little conservative.
Sources: DPA, China tours, China Wiki, Southwest Press