The neighboring countries have always been influenced by Chinese culture. In the Korean peninsula, Lunar New Year is called “New Year’s Day” or “Old Year’s Day” and is a national holiday from the first to the third day of the first month. In Vietnam, the Lunar New Year holiday runs from New Year’s Eve to the third day of the first month, with a total of six days, plus Saturdays and Sundays off.
Some Southeast Asian countries with a large Chinese population also designate Lunar New Year as an official holiday. In Singapore, the first to the third day of the first month is a public holiday. In Malaysia, where the Chinese make up a quarter of the population, the government has designated the first and second days of the first month as official holidays. Indonesia and the Philippines, which have a large Chinese population, designated Lunar New Year as a national public holiday in 2003 and 2004, respectively, but the Philippines does not have a holiday.
Japan used to observe the New Year according to the old calendar (similar to the lunar calendar). After the change to the new calendar from 1873, although most of Japan does not observe the old calendar New Year, areas such as Okinawa Prefecture and the Amami Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture still have the old calendar New Year’s customs intact.
Reunions and gatherings
Vietnamese people regard the Chinese New Year as a time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, and usually start to do New Year’s shopping from the middle of December of the lunar calendar to prepare for the New Year. On New Year’s Eve, every Vietnamese family prepares a sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner, where the whole family gathers for a reunion dinner.
Chinese families in Singapore get together every year to make Chinese New Year cakes. Families gather together to make various kinds of cakes and talk about family life.
Flower Market
Shopping at the flower market is one of the most important activities of the Chinese New Year in Vietnam. About 10 days before the Chinese New Year, the flower market starts to come alive.
New Year’s greeting.
Singaporeans always present a pair of tangerines to their friends and relatives when paying New Year’s greetings, and they must be presented with both hands. This originates from the Cantonese New Year’s custom in southern China, where the Cantonese word “kangs” harmonizes with “gold”, and the gift of kangs (oranges) indicates good luck, good fortune, and good deeds.
Paying respect to the Lunar New Year
Singaporeans, like Cantonese Chinese, also have the custom of paying respect to the New Year.
“Ancestor Worship” and “Gratitude”
As soon as the New Year bell rings, Vietnamese people start to pay respect to their ancestors. The five fruit plates, which symbolize the five elements of heaven and earth, are essential offerings to express gratitude to the ancestors and to wish for a happy, healthy and lucky New Year.
In the Korean Peninsula, on the first day of the first month, every family holds a formal and solemn “ritual and yearly worship” ceremony. Men, women and children wake up early, put on new clothes, some in traditional national costumes, and bow to their ancestors in turn, praying for their blessings and safety, and then pay their respects to their elders one by one, thanking them for their kindness. When paying New Year’s greetings to the elders, the juniors have to kneel down and kowtow, and the elders have to give the juniors “New Year’s money” or simple gifts.
Post time: Feb-03-2023