WYOMING — Saturday, Feb. 10, marks the 2024 Lunar New Year or the beginning of the lunar calendar. The lunar New Year also marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year which is a 16-day celebration, with the first seven considered a public holiday.
Countries in Asia that celebrate the Lunar New Year include China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. In Korea, Lunar New Year is called Seollal; in Vietnam, Tet; and in Tibet, Losar. Also known as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, it is the most important holiday in China.
The year of the Dragon
2024 is the year of the Dragon. The Chinese calendar is on a 12-year cycle, with each year linked to one of a dozen animals: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Chinese New Year marks the transition of these zodiac signs.
Recent years of the dragon include 2012, 2000, 1988, 1976, 1964 and 1952. It will roll around again in 2036, which will be the Year of the Fire Dragon.
According to Chinesenewyear.net, those who were born in previous years of the Dragon are “powerful, endlessly energetic and full of vitality, goal-oriented yet idealistic and romantic, and a visionary leader. They know exactly who they are and possess the keenest sense of self among the 12 zodiacs of Chinese astrology.”
The Year of the Dragon is considered to be an especially lucky one. A report by the Los Angeles Times notes that some aspiring parents try to strategize giving birth in a Dragon year to maximize the child’s luck in life, earning it the nickname “the Year of the Baby.”
Chinese New Year
In the past, the University of Wyoming Chinese Student and Scholar Association has hosted a Chinese New Year celebration. Wyoming Public Radio’s Naina Rao interviewed students at the University of Wyoming about their experiences.
The exact origin is unknown but historians date the first Chinese New Year back some 3,500 years ago. During the Shang Dynasty, people held sacrificial ceremonies in honor of gods and ancestors at the beginning of the end of each year. The date of the festival, the first day of the first month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar, was fixed during the Han Dynasty.
In the Wei and Jin dynasties, apart from worshiping gods and ancestors, the celebrations shifted toward entertainment. The customs of a family getting together to clean their house, having dinner and staying up late on New Year’s Eve originated among common people and is still a part of traditional Chinese New Year celebrations.
In 1912, the Chinese government abolished the Chinese New Year and the lunar calendar, adopting the Gregorian calendar. The official start of the new year was moved to Jan. 1.
In 1949, the Chinese New Year was renamed the Spring Festival and became a national holiday. According to National Geographic, Chinese New Year is “the largest annual human migration in the entire world.” China holds 1.4 billion people or 18.4 percent of the world’s total population. Every year, nearly three billion people travel across the country, returning to their hometowns.
During the Chinese New Year celebration, people can be seen wearing red, which represents prosperity, happiness and luck, protecting those who wear red from misfortune and the unknowns of the new year.
Marked by the new moon, the festivities last 16 days until the full moon, which is celebrated with the Festival of Lanterns. This year the Chinese New Year ends on Feb. 1 and the Lantern festival will be held Feb. 5.
A new moon occurs when the moon is on the same side of Earth as the sun. New moons cross the sky with the sun during the day, and the moon’s shadow side is pointed toward Earth. A new moon is visible only during a solar eclipse.
Festival of Lanterns
The Festival of Lanterns falls on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese calendar year and the first full moon of the year. This year the full moon and Festival of Lanterns is on Saturday, Feb. 24.
At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Hanmingdi was an advocate of Buddhism. He heard that some monks lit lanterns in the temples to show respect to Buddha on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. He ordered that all temples, households and royal palaces should light lanterns for the full moon. The custom evolved into the festival celebrated to this day of lighting and appreciating lanterns, decorated in traditional Chinese symbols and imagery. The lantern festival holds cultural, spiritual and historical significance.
Dancers perform the traditional lion and dragon dances during the festival, to ward off evil and pray for good fortune and safety. In Chinese culture, the lion is a symbol of bravery and strength and was thought to drive away evil and protect people and their livestock.
