Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year
Date and time
All day, February 05, 2019
Description

Religion/Culture: China and other Asian Countries

This is the beginning of a three-day celebration of the Chinese New Year, although traditionally the New Year celebration extends for fifteen days until the Lantern Festival. The festivities mark the beginning of year 4709 (The Year of the Rabbit) since the mythical founding of the Chinese people. On New Year's Eve, the Kitchen God returns from heaven to the shrine prepared by each family, where he is welcomed back with firecrackers and offerings. New Year's Day is a day when all business accounts are settled and grudges forgotten. Traditional Chinese celebrate New Year's Day as a birthday and count themselves one year older. The Chinese celebrate by eating noodles to signify a long life and pork dumplings called jiao zi, which means "midnight" or "the end and the beginning of time." A Chinese coin is hidden in one of the dumplings, and the person who finds it will have good luck over the coming year. Children receive decorated red envelopes with good luck money inside. Celebrations include fireworks, a dragon dance and the beating of drums and cymbals, visits to temples, and prayers for blessings in the new year.

Recognizing the Festival/Holiday: An appropriate greeting is "Happy New Year." In Chinese, the greeting is Gung Hay Fat Choy (Cantonese pronunciation), Gungshi Shin Nien (Mandarin pronunciation).

This calendar listing is intended to provide information about the named cultural/religious observation and is not intended as an actual campus event. If a campus event is associated with this observance, it will be listed separately on the master calendar.

Event sponsor
Admission
Open to public, alumni, current students, faculty, staff
Location
TBA