Lunar New Year Traditions

Aside from New Year’s Eve, there are other important days of the 15-day Lunar New Year festival, including:

On the fifth day of Lunar New Year, it is believed that the gods of prosperity come down from the heavens. Businesses will often participate in setting off firecrackers as they believe it will bring them prosperity and good fortune for their business.

The 15th and final day of the New Year is known as the Festival of Lanterns, marking the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. All types of lanterns are lit throughout the streets, and poems and riddles are often written for entertainment.

There are also paper lanterns on wheels created in the form of either a rabbit or the animal of the year (horse for 2026). The rabbit lantern stems from a Chinese myth or fairytale about a female goddess named Chang E who jumped onto the moon. So she would not travel alone, she brought a rabbit with her to keep her company. It is said that if your heart is pure enough, you can see the goddess Chang E and her rabbit on the moon on this day.

Called “hong bao” in Mandarin, red envelopes filled with money are typically given to children or unmarried adults with no job. If you are single and earning money, you still have to give the younger ones the hong bao money. The color red denotes good luck, fortune, happiness and abundance in Chinese culture and is often worn or used for decoration in other celebrations.

The dragon is present in many Chinese cultural celebrations because the Chinese people often think of themselves as descendants of the mythical creature. On the fifth day of Lunar New Year when many people have to start going back to work, they will also have dancing dragons perform in the front of the office building. On final day of celebrations, there can also be a lot of dancing dragon performances. The dragon represents prosperity, good luck and good fortune.

The Lunar New Year’s Eve meal is the most important dinner of the year. Typically, families gather at a designated relative’s house for dinner, but these days, many families often celebrate with dinner at a restaurant. Many restaurants require reservations months in advance. There are also some families that hire a professional chef to come cook at their house. Chefs are often busy running from one home to another cooking dinners for different families on New Year’s Eve.

Throughout the 15-day celebration, many families rotate festivities between homes of their relatives each day. Sometimes, a family ends up cooking two meals for their relatives, once at lunch and once at dinner. These common dishes used to be all made from scratch, but now people can easily buy them prepackaged at the supermarkets: