A Water Tiger Year

Lunar New Year festivities are always filled with happiness and are celebrated with families and friends. The Lunar New Year begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar. The dates of the holiday change each year based on the moon cycle. In Mainland China, the entire celebration typically starts one day before the actual New Year’s Day. It lasts until the 15th day of the first month in the lunar calendar. Other areas in Asia that celebrate this important holiday are Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Suriname, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Lunar New Year’s Day in 2022 is on Tuesday, February 1.

Issaquah School District families with ties to these cultures have carried this beautiful tradition to our communities. Some of our students have shared with us how they celebrate at home and why this is an important holiday to them.

China

Sophie Wang: 8th-grade student at Pine Lake Middle School

"The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year in Mainland China, is the most important holiday in Chinese tradition. On the eve of the Spring Festival, almost every single family in China gathers and eats a feast together. Different families will have their different traditional foods; ours are dumplings and babao (8-treasure) rice. One important tradition of the Spring Festival is fireworks. My first memory of fireworks is when I was really young, maybe 4 or 5, at my grandparents in Yunnan in southwest China. I used a firework in the shape of a stick. If you light the end, it would sizzle, and bright sparks would jump around it. This kind of firework is really fun because you could wave it around in the air and draw shapes with it. Afterward, the smoke it emits would stay in the same shape for quite a while against the dark night. The bigger fireworks are terribly loud. But once they explode, there is no other sight like it: colorful light exploding in circles. Even though I always cover my ears, my heart still thuds with every explosion. The Spring Festival is a time of joy when families come together, and celebrations are thrown."

Alex Cao: 12th-grade student at Liberty High School

“The Lunar New Year is one of the most important festivals for Chinese families. We usually clean up the entire household. The meaning of this is to start a brand-new year without bad things. We also hang up Chinese characters and couplets that have good meanings around the house and on the door. Families get together for a big dinner. The adults chat while the children spend time with their cousins and play. Following New Year’s Day, families visit their relatives' houses. Kids usually receive red envelopes with money inside and good wishes from the elders in their families. My favorite part of the Lunar New Year is when all the family gets together because we have some really good food that we only have a chance to eat on that night. There is also one tradition in Canton area where families go to Flower Street. There are many flower shops and flower accessory shops. The reason they do this is to cleanse off the negative things and the worries from last year; and wish for a better incoming year.”

Korean

Irene Oh: 6th-grade student at Beaver Lake Middle School

“Korean Lunar New Year, or Seollal in Korean, is one of the biggest holidays, as well as a very important holiday for Koreans all around the world. It is a traditional holiday where family and friends meet up to celebrate while wearing traditional clothes and sharing delicious Korean foods. An example of a traditional game played on Seollal is called YutNori. It is played using a playing board where we move circular pieces around and use long wooden sticks as dice. The game’s main objective is to be the first to get to the end space on the board. Our family especially enjoys this game because it is fun and easily played by kids of all ages like my little sister. An example of typical traditional food eaten on Seollal is called tteokguk. This food consists of thinly sliced rice cakes inside a delicious beef broth. It is usually garnished with egg, meat, or slender strips of seaweed. Our family purchases rice cakes from the store to make tteokguk, but some families make rice cakes at home from scratch. Examples of traditional clothes are called hanbok. A girl’s hanbok consists of a loose, wrapped dress and a top called jeogori. A boy’s hanbok consists of baggy pants and jeogori. There are also pretty ornamental accessories that can be hung on the tops. Another unique thing on Seollal is that when you eat tteokguk, you are considered one year older, no matter when your birthday is. So Korean kids who live in America have ‘Korean ages’ and regular ages. Last year, we were unable to gather with friends and family due to COVID19. But as our family and friends are vaccinated now, we are all looking forward to this year’s Seollal!”

Taiwan

Phoebe Hsu: 2nd grade student and Patty Hsu: 5th-grade student at Apollo Elementary

“We like to celebrate Chinese New Year because we can eat a lot of unique foods and drink juice. We can also wear traditional clothes, which have unique structures and stripes. My favorite part of Chinese New Year is getting red envelopes from my uncles and aunties, family, and grandmothers. We like it the most because we can use the money inside the envelopes to buy things we want and things to eat like snacks, ice cream, and drinks. Our favorite treat to eat during Chinese New Year is milk candy, which is puffy, chewy, and sticky. The milk candy is white and sometimes red and orange color. Our favorite shows are the Dragon Dance and the Lion Dance. During the dragon dance, the dragon sways side-to-side and moves quickly with people holding giant sticks to move and balance it. The Lion Dance is also fantastic because it shows two people in a large lion costume showing tricks and dances. During the Lion Dance, one person even can hold another person up inside the lion costume to show that the lion is standing like a human. We also like to hear Chinese folk tales like ‘Legend of Nian’ because the story is exciting and unbelievable! The story tells that an old woman, who turned out to be a god, defeated the monster Nian by using red sheets and the sound of chopping meat.”

Chris Yang: 4th-grade student at Cougar Ridges Elementary

“There are many New Year traditions in Taiwan, which are very interesting and meaningful. On the day before Chinese New Year, I will help my parents clean up the house, hang up the Spring Festival Couplet on the door, and paste the Chinese character “福” (Fu) on the rice bucket inside the house. This means our rice bucket will always be full in the coming year. In the evening, my whole family will have dinner together. Mother will cook a delicious dinner. One of the fish dishes can’t be eaten too much because it means that may you have abundance year after year (年年有余). We also have to eat dumplings (Yuan Bao), which means money. Almost all the food we eat that night has different good meanings for the next year. After dinner, my parents give me a red envelope, which is called red pocket money. I put it under my pillow so that bad people do not approach me and I will grow up safely. On Chinese New Year’s Eve, we stay up past 12 o’clock. The fireworks and firecrackers will be set off to welcome the New Year when it turns 12 o’clock. It also means that parents can live long lives.”

Malaysia

Elise Low: 2nd-grade student at Apollo Elementary

“I wear nice clothes and eat good food. I decorate my house with red and gold colors. I receive red envelopes filled with money from Mom and Dad. I also watch the Lion Dance. At night, I pop red balloons to make sounds like fireworks. But what I like best is spending time with my friends and family. Happy Chinese New Year!”

Vietnamese

Jenny Le: 10th-grade student at Liberty High School

“Vietnamese Lunar New Year, also known as Tet, is the most important holiday in Vietnamese culture. Tet falls on the first day of the first month in a new year, according to the Lunar Calendar. For as long as I can remember, my family has always celebrated Tet. Before the holiday, we do household preparations, such as cleaning and decorating our house with flowers. Then, on Lunar New Year’s Eve, my parents set up altars with a variety of foods and Vietnamese dishes. We pray to our ancestors for a bright, healthy, and peaceful New Year. On the morning of Tet, my family typically visits a temple to pray. There is also usually a traditional Lion Dance performance with fireworks. This is something that I have always looked forward to since I was young. Then in the evening, we gather at my grandparents’ house to celebrate with all of my relatives. We wish each other a new year filled with good health and prosperity. The kids will receive gifts of red envelopes filled with lucky money from the elders. Afterward, we feast on delicious Vietnamese food prepared over the past few days. With filled stomachs, my family stays up late to determine our new year’s luck with scratch cards and Vietnamese gambling games. The Tet Festival has been a significant part of my childhood memories, as I will never forget the nights I spend celebrating with my family. The holiday’s importance is not just because of its spiritual reasons but it’s also a way to bring a family together. I cannot wait for this upcoming Tet celebration! With that, I wish everyone a Happy New Year, or how we say it in Vietnamese, “Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!”.”