The lunar new year, also known as the lunisolar new year, marks the start of a calendar year whose months correspond to lunar phases.
The Chinese calendar of East Asia, the Hindu and Buddhist calendars of South and Southeast Asia, the Islamic calendar, and the Jewish calendar in the Middle East are among the more well-known of these.
Other civilizations, including the native Nisga’a people of Canada, also celebrate it. Different cultures use different methods to determine the first day of a new lunar year.
Did you come into the world during the year of the Dog, Monkey, or perhaps Rooster? The Lunar New Year is celebrated on a different day every year since the lunar calendar is based on lunar cycles. But typically, it takes place in January or February.
Lunar New Year is not only celebrated in China, but it is also a significant celebration in many other countries, such as Vietnam, Singapore, and Korea.
One of 12 animals is used to name each year. The origin of something is described in a folk tale. The Emperor made the decision one day to hold a race for all the local wildlife. Only 12 animals, sadly, were actually able to make it to the race.
Lunar New Year Calendar
A Lunar New Year calendar is one that is based on the monthly cycles of the Moon’s phases (synodic months, lunations), as opposed to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are solely based on the solar year.
A solar calendar system that originally developed from a lunar calendar system is the most widely used calendar, the Gregorian calendar.
A lunisolar calendar, in which the lunar months are intercalated in some way to the solar year, is distinguished from a strictly lunar calendar by the alignment of the lunar months with the solar year.
Different calendars use different methods to determine when a month starts, some utilizing the new, full, or crescent moons and others using intricate computations.
Before the Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1872 under the Meiji government, the Japanese Calendar previously utilized both the lunar and lunisolar calendars.
Holidays like the Japanese New Year were simply transposed on top of the calendar rather than calculated like in other nations that combine the lunisolar and Gregorian calendars.
For instance, the Japanese New Year now falls on January 1 instead of December 31, creating a month delay compared to other East Asian nations.
Customary Problems in Contemporary Japan
The majority of calendars that are referred to as “lunar” calendars are actually lunisolar calendars. Their months are based on moon cycle data, and intercalation is employed to bring them roughly in line with the solar year.
The previous Lunar New Year calendar, which was still employed alongside the solar “civic calendar” in ancient Egypt for religious and agricultural purposes, might be seen as its parent.
The Chinese, Vietnamese, Hindu, Hebrew, and Thai calendars are examples of current lunisolar timetables.
A lunar year with 12 months is approximately 11–12 days shorter than a solar year since synodic months are 29–30 days long.
Intercalation is not employed in all lunar calendars, including the one most Muslims use, the lunar Hijri calendar.
For those that do, like the Hebrew calendar and Buddhist calendars in Myanmar, the most typical method of intercalation is to add an extra month every second or third year.
Some lunisolar calendars additionally use annual natural phenomena that are influenced by lunar as well as solar cycles to calibrate their timing.
The Banks Islands’ lunar calendar, which includes the three months when the palatable palolo worms gather on the beaches, serves as an illustration of this.
Lunar New Year Celebration
Lunar New Year is very much a family holiday no matter where it is observed, albeit different places observe it in slightly different ways.
With warm greetings and expressions of respect for the elderly, the younger generation bids their parents and grandparents a happy new year.
Sebae is the Korean word for this group of young people who bow deeply while kneeling on the ground. Family members’ older generations often give younger members little packets of cash as gifts.
Since red is a lucky color, red packets are utilized in China and Vietnam. Additionally, a lot of individuals donate money electronically these days.
Sending money in particular sums is lucky, such as eight, which in Chinese sounds like the word “prosper,” is a good example.
Many of the traditional meals consumed during the Lunar New Year have additional meanings.
For instance, a lot of people in China consume fish because the Chinese term for fish has a similar sound to the word surplus, which denotes abundance.
A unique soup is served in Korea veggies, and little pieces of rice cake are all simmered together in a clear soup. The spherical rice cake pieces could be taken to be coins and cash.
It’s supposed that consuming this soup around the New Year will age you a year. It’s a running joke that if you eat two bowls of soup, you’ll age two years! Rice cakes that are square and wrapped in leaves are a common Vietnamese dish. It takes many hours to prepare and is packed with veggies.
Numerous other customs surround the Lunar New Year. For instance, in Vietnam, locals hold the notion that the first person to enter their home on the first day of the New Year will determine their fortune for the coming year. They take care to only invite kind, respectable, and accomplished people.
In Korea, yunnori and other classic board games are frequently played by families. Each team gets a turn tossing four distinctively designed sticks into the air in this game.
According to how the sticks land on the board, they travel about. Many people own firecrackers in China, which burn and emit a loud explosions. They take in acrobatic dancers dressed as lions or dragons performing on the street. Drums and music are playing as they dance.
The Lunar New Year Barbie (designed by Guo Pei) I wish I had growing up. pic.twitter.com/llm3YJWaGd
— Nancy Wang Yuen (@nancywyuen) January 11, 2023
Get daily updates and trendy news to enhance your knowledge with every topic covered. Including fashion, technology, current affairs, travel news, health-related news, sports news, Business, Political News, and many more.
For more information visit Live News Dekho