Chinese New Year 2025 - Year of the Snake

Introduction

As we’ve entered 2025, we’ve also entered another year of Chinese New Year Celebrations. It’s a celebration that a lot of us know of, but may not necessarily know the details of it. In this blog, dive into the history and various Chinese new year facts.

What is Chinese New Year

The first New Moon of the year is when multiple countries in East Asia observe Chinese New Year Celebrations. The New Moon falls between 20^th January and 21^st February. Lunar New Year and Chinese New Year are the same event and are often used interchangeably.

Chinese New Year is a 15 day celebration and is one of the most important times of the year in China.

What is the Animal for the Lunar New Year 2025

The Chinese Zodiac is incorporated into the Chinese New Year. It’s a 12 year cycle, with each year being named after a certain Animal. Each animal has certain characteristics that pass onto those who are born in the animal’s year. This forms the Lunar New Year Horoscope.

The Chinese New Year 2025 Animal is the Snake. People who were born in this year are expected to be intuitive, strategic and intelligent, and can expect this year to be a surprising and eventful year.

History of Chinese New Year

In ancient China, many people would be fearful of the ferocious beast, Nian, which translates to ‘Year’. The last day of the Lunar New Year, Nian would enter villages to eat people and livestock. To counter this, everyone would lock their livestock up, and either fled or hid in their homes to prevent being eaten.

One day, a wise man entered the village and promised to drive away the beast. Whilst the villagers did not believe him, they proceeded to hide or flee. Upon returning the next day, they saw the village unharmed and the man very much healthy.

The villagers were shocked, asking the Man what he did. He showed them that he hung up red papers and wore bright red clothing. He made loud noises by banging on a drum and set fire to Bamboo to ward off Nian.

These three things became a tradition during Chinese New Year:

Bright lights and firecrackers
Wearing red and decorating in red
Loud noises and music

As with many ancient tales, there’s several slight deviations to the story, but they all relate to the same three factors to scare away the mythical beast.

Chinese New Year Traditions

Chinese (and other East-Asian) communities around the world observe all kinds of different traditions. On Lune New Year’s Eve, families would symbolically sweep away any bad fortunate by cleaning out the house, which makes room for incoming good luck.

Different dishes are cooked, some with symbolic meaning. Egg rolls symbolise wealth, as they look like gold bars. Chow Mein Noodles should not be cut as it symbolises health for a long life. Shrimps symbolise happiness, as the word for ‘shrimp’ and ‘laugh’ sound similar in Mandarin ('Xiā' and 'Xìao' respectively) .

You can witness lots of Chinese New Parades, where you can see the floats of dragon and lion dances, to celebrate the beast Nian. Fireworks and Firecrackers are plentiful throughout the parade.

The Lantern Festival takes place on the last day of Chinese New Year, were Lanterns are released into the sky to float away.

Five Fruit and Vegetables for Chinese New Year

Oranges

The Mandarin name for 'oranges' (chéngzǐ) sounds like ‘gold ’ (jīnzǐ), and so it’s seen as an act of good fortunate when offering them as a gift. Citrus fruits in general are gifted during Chinese New year. The round shape may also represent togetherness and completeness.

Apples

In Chinese Communities, it is believed that eating apples will help one live a peaceful and harmonious life. This is because, in Mandarin, the word ‘Apple’ and ‘Peace’ sound the same: ‘Ping’.

green apples represent money, whilst red apples signify prosperity and abundance.

Grapes

As grapes come in bunches, it is a symbol of abundance and a bountiful harvest amongst Chinese communities. Gifting these means that good luck will accompany someone. It’s good to eat either type of grapes, as Green grapes symbolise vitality and prosperity, whilst purple grapes stand for respect and elegance.

Watermelons

Watermelons, especially amongst Vietnamese communities, are symbols of luck and ones ability to make it through a year.

They’re used in Têt celebrations and often carved with meaningful sayings whilst being decorated with red flags. You can learn more aout Têt further below.

Leafy Greens

Leafy Greens such as, Lettuce and Bok Choy, symbolises prosperity, growth and good fortune. ‘Bok Choy' ('Báicài') and ‘Hundred Wealth’ ('Bâi Cái) sounds similar in Mandarin.

Who Celebrates Lunar New Year

Many East Asian countries celebrate Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year). Veitnam, South Korea, Tibet and Indonesia are to name a few.

How does Vietnam celebrate Chinese New Year

In Veitnam, Lunar New year is known as ‘Tết’. Tết’ means festival, but is generally used to describe Lunar New Year in Vietnamese. The celebration was originally brough to Vietnam by the Chinese, where China ruled over them for over 1000 years. It retains much of Chinese New Year’s customs, such as giving out red envelopes with money in it. They also use the Vietnamese Zodiac instead of the Chinese, which replaces the Ox, rabbit and Sheep to Buffalo, Cat and Goat.

How does South Korea celebrate Chinese New Year

In South Korea, the celebration is known as ‘Seollal’. They follow similar traditions as Lunar New Year, where communities visit their families and perform ancestral rites. In Korea, the hanbok is worn during Seollal, and Money is received from elders after performing a formal bow. Traditional folk games are often played and old stories are told.

Closing Words

And there you have it folks! Just a small dive into all things about Chinese New Year. It's important to note that Lunar New Year is celebrated by a multitude of communities across the globe for a great long time, and over time the traditions may have slightly changed from region to region.

We're commited to accurately representing any and all topics that we cover. This is done by research from multiple sources. If you believe we may have said something incorrect, this was not intentional. Please free to contact us and share your thoughts!

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_New_Year

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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chinese-New-Year

https://www.confuciusinstitute.ac.uk/the-legend-of-the-beast-nian-origins-of-chinese-new-year/

https://www.history.com/news/symbolic-foods-of-chinese-new-year

https://www.topchinatravel.com/china-guide/lucky-fruits-for-chinese-new-year.htm

https://thehkhub.com/chinese-new-year-fruits/

https://www.johnvenaproduce.com/blog/symbolic-fruits-vegetables-for-a-lucky-lunar-new-year/

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