Happy Chinese New Year! ?
With so many more brands and stores embracing the Lunar New Year. I thought that in the same theme of my How To: Chinese New Year from last year I would share some facts, traditions and ways you can join in the celebration!
This year Chinese New Year falls on Saturday, January 25th and marks the first day of the year of the rat.
People born in 2020, 2008, 1996, 1984, 1972, 1960, 1948, 1936, and 1924 will be of the rat zodiac.
How I celebrate with my family:
We do two main meals throughout the duration of CNY, the first being Dim Sum the first weekend of CNY for the Lion Dance and the second is Lo Hei at our favourite Singaporean restaurant. My mom’s side – being the side that celebrates CNY – are all in Asia so unfortunately my family traditions aren’t as extensive as others.
We exchange red packets which means that I just get a red packet from my parents.
Hopefully in the next few years I’ll be in Singapore for CNY and can experience the traditions my family has!
At home, we also try to extensively clean our house before the new year, get all the laundry done and decorate for the holiday!
How to Celebrate Chinese New Year 2020:
One of the easiest ways to celebrate Chinese New Year is to head out for Dim Sum or Peaking Duck on the 25th of January. Especially if this is your first foray into the holiday, it’s easy to find a good Chinese restaurant in your area and book a table!
If you have been invited to celebrate with friends or family and this is your first time here are some tips!
What to wear
I would strongly strongly strongly recommend avoiding the colour white. It’s the colour of mourning and is not considered a lucky colour.
The safest bet on CNY is always red or gold. Red symbolizes prosperity, luck, happiness and joy while Gold is considered the most beautiful colour and symbolizes good luck.
Another option is to wear blue as blue symbolizes immortality and advancement. Blue is also the colour of Spring, which CNY is the Spring Festival!
I would also recommend wearing a new pair of shoes to CNY (especially if you are being brought to your significant others family who celebrates).
What to Bring
If you are married and there will be children at the celebration you will be attending, bring red packets! Numbers have significance in Chinese culture so don’t forget to look up what your desired amount means first to further increase the luck and prosperity of the packet. In general avoid anything with the number 4, it is the most unlucky number as 4 sounds like the word for death.
If you are unmarried you do not need to bring a red packet, however, it is always a good idea to bring oranges for your host! Again make sure the number of oranges you bring will symbolize good luck for your host (12 or 28 are good numbers for example).
If you are considering bringing flowers or a plant, avoid white flowers as some species when in white are for mourning. Instead opt for red peonies and lilies, and pink orchids – all symbols of luck and prosperity. If you don’t want to get flowers jade plants, money plants and bamboo are all excellent options!
Other traditions to follow:
Clean your house! This tradition can double as your spring cleaning for the year!
Place an upside down prosperity on your door to usher in the new year!
For your friends and family who celebrate CNY if they have children you can drop off some red packets for them is a nice treat for the New Year!
Avoid buying shoes for one month after CNY (this year Feb 25th will be the day this ends), it’s an old superstition but if you are like me and shoes is your weakness a one month no buy might be good for your wallet!
Enjoy the limited edition CNY collections coming out in stores! (I’ll link some of my favourite Sephora ones!)
Happy Chinese New Year 2020!
xoxo S
Chinese New Year 2020
