What is the Chinese New Year and how is it celebrated in Australia?

The lunar year, also known as the Chinese year, is an important part of Australian culture. The Chinese New Year festival in Sydney is the largest celebration of the Chinese calendar of its kind outside Asia.

Starting Date of Chinese Year

The Chinese New Year begins on February 1st this year.

There are four elements to New Year’s celebrations. The week begins with a short year, a day of remembrance and prayer followed by New Year’s Eve, a day of reunions and gifts. The Spring Festival lasts for fifteen days until the Lantern Festival.

Dr. Pan Wang, a senior lecturer in Chinese and Asian studies at the University of New South Wales, says, “The lunar year or the new Chinese year is the beginning of a lunar calendar. Also, it can be called New Year or Spring Festival. It is celebrated in China and other East Asian countries like Korea, Vietnam, Japan. ” It is celebrated in Malaysia, Mongolia, and many parts of the world.

Dr. Wang added that the date of the Lunar New Year goes back 4,000 years, beginning with the Xia or Shang dynasty.

Dr. Kai Zhang works with the modern Chinese language program at the Australian National University’s Culture, History, and Language in Canberra.

She says the Lunar New Year celebrations in Australia are a great opportunity for people worldwide to get to know Chinese Southeast and East Asian cultures on a large scale.

“It’s a cultural and symbolic event of a long history,” she says.

Ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year

• “The New Year is celebrated with family and friends by cooking a variety of meals, such as fish, dumplings, and so on,” Dr. Wang adds.
• “Red is thought to be a lucky hue. When you notice a lot of red decorations, it’s because the Chinese have a custom of having children celebrate the New Year and their progress. A red envelope should be given to him.”
• Iris Tang was born and raised in China before moving to Australia 20 years ago.

• She claims that the primary difference between Lunar New Year celebrations in Australia and mainland China is that her motherland has a long public holiday – a time when millions of Chinese people return to their hometowns for family reunions. Let’s go on an adventure.

According to Tang

According to Tang, food is an important part of the Lunar New Year celebrations in Australia, as in China.

“I personally celebrate it with a lot of food provided by my family and friends here in Canberra.” We do it this way: starting on New Year’s Eve, we sit around the table and create hundreds of dumplings.

“I make many meals and freeze them for subsequent use during the rest of the New Year’s festivities.”

Chinese Traditional Calendar

Although the Gregorian calendar is utilized in modern-day China, the traditional Chinese calendar is widely used in China and abroad because it describes traditional holidays such as the Lunar New Year, Lantern Festival, and the Qing Dynasty. Fair

It also provides traditional Chinese names for dates within a year, which people use to identify ideal days for weddings, funerals, moving, or establishing a business, according to Dr. Pan Wang.

Variations of the traditional Chinese calendar are used throughout East Asia.

“Every year, the Lunar New Year’s Day falls in January or February,” says Pan Wang.

“It falls between late January and mid-February – this year it will be in February.”

Lalten Festival

“It’s called the Lantern Festival because it’s a tradition.

And makes small lanterns for his children, and he lights the lanterns outside his door, “
“And as far as we can go back in history, in the early days of the Tang Dynasty, there were a lot of celebrations on that day.”

“Time to Respect Ancestors”

The Lunar New Year in South Korea, according to Dr. Smith, is a time to respect one’s ancestors, a tradition that is shared by other countries.

“On New Year’s Day, everyone prepares food for their deceased ancestors, pays tribute to them and offers them drinks,” says Dr. Smith.

“Thousands of years old history”

Many components of the traditional Lunar New Year celebrations derive from places other than China, according to Dr. Smith.

For example, this is the case with the lion dance that is traditionally performed during the Lunar New Year’s parade.

It is possible that this tradition has its roots outside of China. Many have linked it to Persian traditions based on linguistic and historical analysis.

Tiger Year

This is the Year of the Tiger, which begins on Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day and will continue until January 22, 2023.

The Chinese zodiac year begins and ends on the Lunar New Year.

Each year is represented by a constellation or animal in a 12-year cycle of recurring constellations. Also, each with its own well-known characteristics.

In order, they are rat, ox, lion, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

Dr. Wang says the tiger is a symbol of strength, power, and control of things. Also, a necessary change for the world because humanity is currently plagued by epidemics such as Crohn’s disease.