Although many Asian cultures recognize the Asian Zodiac, they each have their own way of bringing in the New Year. Some follow the calendar New Year, while others follow the solar calendar.
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.
The New Year is a time of family reunion. Family members gather at each other's homes for visits and shared meals, most significantly a feast on New Year's Eve. In traditional households, the celebration is highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.
The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.
Lucky Money
Lysee or "lucky money" in red envelopes are given to children and unmarried friends, as well as close relatives.
Japan has adopted the solar calendar since 1873 and so, the New Year celebration starts on January 1.
Omisoka
Omisoka is New Year’s Eve. People eat Toshikoshi-soba at night and stay up till midnight to listen to the 108 chimes of a nearby temple bell. Toshikoshi-soba is a bowl of hot brown noodles in broth. The noodle is a homophone for a word that means “being close” andtherefore signifies the approach of the New Year. The 108 chimes called Joya-no-kane, rings out the old year and rings in the New Year. The tolls represent the leaving behind of 108 bonno, or worldly concerns of the old year, which, according to Buddhist belief, torment mankind. During this ceremony, each toll is struck after the reverberations from the preceding toll have dissipated. The last peal of the bell is struck at midnight, coinciding with the first few seconds of the New Year; thus a new beginning dawns, enabling the start of a prosperous and joyous year.
Oshogatsu
Oshogatsu is the Japanese New Year which used to last several days; now it's been pared down to just three. Oshogatsu is a time for peace and resolution. Japanese people don't go to work on New Year's Day. They rest and celebrate the holiday with the family. They go to temples to pray for a prosperous and healthy new year. The first visit to the temple is called "Hatsu Mohde," which means the first visit.
On New Year's Day, the family starts the New Year with a "mochi" or rice cake breakfast. The rice cake is served in a stew called "Ozoni." Rice pounding to make mochi rice cakes is a popular new year activity. However, many modern Japanese families buy them from supermarkets now.
Like other Asian New Year traditions, adults give children a New Year' Day gift called "otoshi-dama" in the form of money placed in special little envelopes. Later, relatives and close friends bring Otoshi-dama when they visit. The sum is larger than the usual allowance and children are free to spend it as they wish. Children also play various games to usher in the New Year.
There are many "good luck" charms associated with the New Year. Cranes and turtles are symbols of longevity and happiness. Houses are decorated with origami cranes to bring peace and happiness to the New Year.
Sending Nengajo, or New Year's cards, is a very popular custom especially for distant friends and acquaintances. The cards are similar, perhaps, to Christmas cards in the West except that they are usually in the form of postcards. The tradition of sending these is very strong, and the mailmen make every effort to deliver all the cards on the morning of New Year's Day itself.
New Year's greeting: "say hay boke-mahn he pah du say oh".
In Korea, Solnal is the first day of the first month of the new year. While many Koreans celebrate the New Year on January 1st of the solar calendar, the lunar new year is still popular today. In many Korean communities, the New Year is celebrated twice.
The Koreans focus on the family as they celebrate the beginning of the New Year. Children put on new traditional clothes called hanbok. They kneel and bow to their ancestors and elders. Family members wish each other prosperity and good fortune. Then they exchange gifts: children receive lucky money, candy and fruit from the elders.
The family spends time together and have a bowl of rice cake soup called ttokkuk. Koreans believe eating this soup will add an extra year of age to your life. Note, similar to other Asian cultures, Korean age is actually calculated at the New Year. Everyone becomes a year older on New Year's Day!
Children often take this day to play special New Year games. Some favorite games: yut nori, a stick game, and see-sawing on large see-saws setup in a courtyard or in parks.
In parts of Korea, people usher in the New Year with a ritual called Jishin Balpgi. Loud drums and gongs are played to scare off evil spirits of the old year. At the end of the day, friends and relatives join together for dinner to renew their friendship. Sol is a celebration of family and good friends. And for the Koreans, the New Year is about family and community.
The more popular name for the Vietnamese New Year is Tet, where as the formal name is Nguyen-dan. Tet, which means the first morning of the first day of the new year, lasts for 7 days. Like the Chinese, the Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays.
People start cleaning and decorating their homes with a belief that by doing so they would be getting rid of bad fortune and bad memories, which were associated with the previous year. People all over Vietnam buy new clothes as well as new shoes and try their best to pay off their debts and even try to resolve the differences among the family members and friends.
The New Year's Eve is celebrated with a special ceremony by the name of Le Tru Tich, at the midnight hour. The ceremony is initiated with firecrackers and gongs in order to bid goodbye to the previous year and welcome the New Year with loud happy noises.
Like the Chinese, Vietnamese people are very careful about what they do on New Year's Day. The events on New Year's Day determine your luck for the rest of the year. Therefore, everything and everyone you are in touch with on New Year's Day should symbolize good fortune. Don't visit people who are in mourning because they are associated with death. Children should not fight or cry on New Year's Day. Homes are decorated with Hoa Mai, a yellow blossom that represents spring.
Vietnamese families observe the custom of the kitchen god tao for a week before the New Year, they believe there are three gods represented by the three legs of the cooking equipment used in the kitchen. The middle god is a woman the other two are her husbands. It was once customary to provide the gods with a carp on which to travel. The carp represents the second last stage in the process by which animals are gradually transformed into dragons. They buy the carp from the market, bring it home and place it in a bucket of water to place at the altar of the house before it is later set free.
During Tet, Vietnamese families plant a bamboo tree, Cay Neu, in front of their homes. They decorate the tree with bells, flowers, and red streamers. The decorations are not for decorative purposes but are to guard the family against evil spirits. On the seventh (the last) day of Tet, the Cay Neu is taken down. This is the last ritual of the New Year celebration.
The Vietnamese New Year cuisine includes a special rice pudding, which needs to be prepared beforehand. The rice pudding is given the name of banh chung or banh tet. The main ingredients of this pudding are mung beans and pork. Some other famous New Year foods are preserved sweets, beef, chicken, fish, oranges, coconuts, grapefruits and other seasonal fruits, especially watermelon. Watermelon holds much importance, as its flesh is red in color and hence the melon is considered to be lucky. The seeds of the watermelon are often dyed red also and served as delicacies along with other food items.
