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Certain dishes are eaten during the Chinese New Year for their symbolic meaning. Lucky food is served during the 16-day festival season, especially on Chinese New Year dinner on New Year's Eve, which is believed to bring good luck for the coming year.

The auspicious symbolism of these traditional Chinese New Year foods is based on their pronunciations or appearance. Not only do the dishes themselves matter, but also the preparation, and ways of serving and eating mean a lot.

The most common Chinese New Year foods include dumplings, fish, spring rolls, and niangao. We've rounded up 7 essential Chinese, or Lunar, New Year dishes, and included the symbolism behind them all.

1. Fish - an Increase in Prosperity

Steam fish

In Chinese, "fish" (鱼 Yú /yoo/) sounds like 'surplus'. Fish is a traditional Chinese New Year dish on the Chinese New Year dinner menu. Chinese people always like to have a surplus at the end of the year, because they think if they have managed to save something at the end of the year, then they can make more in the next year.

Steamed fish is one of the most famous Chinese New Year recipes. What fish should be chosen for the New Year dinner is based on auspicious homophonics.

Crucian carp: As the first character of 'crucian carp' (鲫鱼 jìyú /jee-yoo/) sounds like the Chinese word 吉 (jí /jee/ 'good luck'), eating crucian carp is considered to bring good luck for the next year.

Chinese mud carp: The first part of the Chinese for "mud carp" (鲤鱼 lǐyú /lee-yoo/) is pronounced like the word for gifts (礼 lǐ /lee/). So Chinese people think eating mud carp during the Chinese New Year symbolizes wishing for good fortune.

Catfish: The Chinese for "catfish" (鲶鱼 niányú /nyen-yoo/) sounds like 年余 (nián yú) meaning 'year surplus'. So eating catfish is a wish for a surplus in the year.

Eating two fish, one on New Year's Eve and one on New Year's Day, (if written in a certain way) sounds like a wish for a surplus year-after-year.

If only one catfish is eaten, eating the upper part of the fish on New Year's Eve and the remainder on the first day of the new year can be spoken with the same homophonic meaning.

How a Fish Is Eaten Matters a Lot

The fish should be the last dish left with some left over, as this has auspicious homophonics for there being surpluses every year. This is practiced north of the Yangtze River, but in other areas the head and tail of the fish shouldn't be eaten until the beginning of the year, which expresses the hope that the year will start and finish with surplus.

There are some rules related to the position of the fish.

The head should be placed toward distinguished guests or elders, representing respect.

Diners can enjoy the fish only after the one who faces the fish head eats first.

The fish shouldn't be moved. The two people who face the head and tail of fish should drink together, as this is considered to have a lucky meaning.

These customs are observed in a lively and light-hearted spirit, full of laughing and banter.

Fish can be cooked in various ways such as boiling, steaming, and braising. The most famous Chinese fish dishes include steamed weever, West Lake fish with pickled cabbage and chili, steamed fish in vinegar sauce, and boiled fish with spicy broth.

Lucky Sayings for Eating Fish

年年有余 (Niánnián yǒu yú /nyen-nyen yo yoo/): May you always have more than you need!

鱼跃龙门 (Yú yuè lóngmén /yoo ywair long-mnn/): Success in your exam! ('A fish leaping over the dragon gate' implies successfully passing a competitive examination.)

2. Chinese Dumplings - Wealth

Dumplings

With a history of more than 1,800 years, dumpling (饺子 Jiǎozi /jyaoww-dzrr/) is a classic lucky food for new year, and a traditional dish eaten on Chinese New Year's Eve, widely popular in China, especially in North China.

Chinese dumplings can be made to look like Chinese silver ingots (which are not bars, but boat-shaped, oval, and turned up at the two ends). Legend has it that the more dumplings you eat during the New Year celebrations, the more money you can make in the New Year.

Dumplings generally consist of minced meat and finely-chopped vegetables wrapped in a thin and elastic dough skin. Popular fillings are minced pork, diced shrimp, fish, ground chicken, beef, and vegetables. They can be cooked by boiling, steaming, frying or baking.

How they're made: Almost all Chinese people can make dumplings. First they mix the dough, second make the dough into round "wrappers" with a rolling pin, third fill the wrappers with stuffing, fourth pinch the "wrapper" together into the desired shape, and fifth cook them.

Different Dumpling Fillings Have Different Meanings

Chinese don't eat Chinese sauerkraut (酸菜 suāncài /swann-tseye/) dumplings at Spring Festival, because it implies a poor and difficult future. On New Year's Eve it is a tradition to eat dumplings with cabbage and radish, implying that one's skin will become fair and one's mood will become gentle.

How to Make LUCKY Dumplings

When making dumplings there should be a good number of pleats. If you make the junction too flat, it is thought to purport poverty.

Some Chinese put a white thread inside a dumpling, and the one who eats that dumpling is supposed to possess longevity. Sometimes a copper coin is put in a dumpling, and the one who eats it is supposed to become wealthy.

Dumplings should be arranged in lines instead of circles, because circles of dumplings are supposed to mean one's life will go round in circles, never going anywhere.

Lucky Saying for Eating Dumplings

Zhāo cái jìn bǎo (招财进宝/jaoww tseye jin baoww/): 'Bringing in wealth and treasure' - a felicitous wish for making money and amassing a fortune.

Read more about Chinese dumplings.

3. Spring Rolls - Wealth

Spring rolls

Spring rolls (春卷 Chūnjuǎn /chwnn- jwen/) get their name because they are traditionally eaten during the Spring Festival. It is a Chinese New Year dish especially popular in East China: Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, etc.

Spring rolls are a Cantonese dim sum dish of cylindrical-shaped rolls filled with vegetables, meat, or something sweet. Fillings are wrapped in thin dough wrappers, then fried, when the spring rolls are given their golden-yellow color.

Lucky Saying for Eating Spring Rolls

黄金万两 (hwung-jin wan-lyang/): 'A ton of gold' (because fried spring rolls look like gold bars) - a wish for prosperity.

Read more about spring rolls.

4. Glutinous Rice Cake - a Higher Income or Position

Chinese New Year cakes

Glutinous rice cake (年糕 Niángāo /nyen-gaoww/) is a lucky food eaten on Chinese New Year's Eve. In Chinese, glutinous rice cake sounds like it means "getting higher year-on- by year". In Chinese people's minds, this means the higher you are the more prosperous your business is a general improvement in life. The main ingredients of niangao are sticky rice, sugar, chestnuts, Chinese dates, and lotus leaves.

Lucky Saying for Eating Niangao

年年高 (niánnián gāo /nyen-nyen gaoww/): 'Getting higher year-after-year by year', can imply children's height, rise in business success, better grades in study, promotions at work, etc.

Read more details on Nian gao.

5. Sweet Rice Balls - Family Togetherness

Sweet rice balls

Sweet rice ball (汤圆 Tāngyuán /tung-ywen/) is the main food for China's Lantern Festival, however, in south China, people eat them throughout the Spring Festival. The pronunciation and round shape of tangyuan are associated with reunion and being together. That's why they are favored by the Chinese during the New Year celebrations.

Lucky Sayings for Eating Tangyuan

团团圆圆 (Tuántuán yuányuán /twann-twann ywen-ywen/ 'group-group round-round'): Happy (family) reunion!

6. Longevity Noodles - Happiness and Longevity

Chinese Longevity Noodles

Longevity noodles (长寿面 Chángshòu Miàn /chung-show myen/) unsurprisingly symbolize a wish for longevity. Their length and unsevered preparation are also symbolic of the eater's life.

It is a lucky food eaten on Chinese New Year Day in North China.

They are longer than normal noodles and uncut, either fried and served on a plate, or boiled and served in a bowl with their broth.

7. Good Fortune Fruit - Fullness and Wealth

Certain fruits are eaten during the Chinese New Year period, such as tangerines and oranges, and pomeloes. They are selected as they are particularly round and "golden" in color, symbolizing fullness and wealth, but more obviously for the lucky sound they bring when spoken.

Chinese New Year fruits

Eating and displaying tangerines and oranges is believed to bring good luck and fortune due to their pronunciation, and even writing. The Chinese for orange (and tangerine) is 橙 (chéng /chnng/), which sounds the same as the Chinese for 'success' (成). One of the ways of writing tangerine (桔 jú /jyoo/) contains the Chinese character for luck (吉 jí /jee/).

Eating pomeloes/shaddocks is thought to bring continuous prosperity. The more you eat, the more wealth it will bring, as the traditional saying goes. The Chinese for pomelo (柚 yòu /yo/) sounds like 'to have' (有 yǒu), except for the tone, and exactly like 'again' (又 yòu).

Continue to read Chinese New Year 2022

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Chinese New Year Food: 7 Lucky Foods to Eat During Chinese New Year

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Certain dishes are eaten during the Chinese New Year for their symbolic meaning. Lucky food is served during the 16-day festival season, especially on Chinese New Year dinner on New Year's Eve, which is believed to bring good luck for the coming year.

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Chinese New Year Taboos and Superstitions: 18 Things You Should Not Do

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There are many traditions, taboos, and superstitions during the Chinese New Year period. Find out the top 18 things you should not do during Chinese New Year.

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Chinese New Year Taboos and Superstitions

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Due to some Chinese New Year's superstitions and taboos, people should avoid taboo words, haircut, needle work, medicine and breaking during Spring Festival.

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Rule number 1: Don't show up at somebody's house on the 1st day of the new year unless you have been invited by the house owner first, and especially if you are not lucky enough to possess a name associated with wealth, happiness, prosperity or longevity.
Well, still plenty of time to get your name changed! And be careful not to visit anyone's house for the first three days if you have funerals in your immediate family in the last 3 years.

Rule number 2: No black and white, or dark clothes- they are for funerals, not New Year holidays. Wear red -hopefully bulls will pardon you during these days.

Rule number 3: Don't swear, curse or argue. Avoid negative topics such as accidents, deaths, or funerals. Put on a smile for at least the first 3 days of the year, even if somebody slaps you in the face, and on the safe side, do as the Brits do - talk about the weather! Oops, but maybe not the black holes or floods!

Rule number 4: For those who enjoy giving presents, make sure you avoid the followings: clock or watch (the recipient's time is going to pass), cats (mèo in Vietnamese language pronounced like nghèo, poverty - even though this year is the year of the cat), medicine (the receiver will get ill), writing ink (ink is black, an unlucky color), scissors or knives (they bring incompatibility).

So if you are thinking of giving your girlfriend a Rolex, it is high time you changed your mind!

Rule number 5: Don't sweep the house or empty out the rubbish to avoid luck and benefits going with it, especially on the first day of the New Year. So be prepared to live with dust and dirt!

Rule number 6: Don't ask someone to repay you a debt or loan (but wait until the next 2-3 weeks!) People believe that if they have to repay or borrow money at the beginning of the year, they will have to borrow and repay money for the rest of the year. Best time of the year to dodge your debts, eh?

Rule number 7: If you have been proud of your ability to devour any kind of food, stop yourself from eating squids (its ink is black, not the favorite color, remember?), duck meat (duck is stupid), or shrimps (you will move backwards like them!).

So if you are seeking promotion, probably best not to eat shrimps for the whole year - not so sure about lobsters though!

Rule number 8: Don't take things that are related to water or fire out of somebody's house: Fire is considered to be the source of the warmth of the family, whereas water appears in the popular wish "Tien vo nhu nuoc" ("Money rushes in like water).

So, taking water out of somebody's house is equivalent to taking away their wealth. A relaxing time for firefighters!

Rule number 9: the fifth day of the New Year is considered to be anniversary of the death, not good for departures. A good excuse for not having to start work that early, and if your boss is a western, he needs education!

Rule number 10: And last but not least, don't kill, or hurt! If you feel like eating chicken, buy it ready prepared - the guilt is with the slaughter house owners and we remain always innocent and pure!

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Top 10 taboos during Vietnamese Tet - News VietNamNet

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Rule number 1: Don't show up at somebody's house on the 1st day of the new year unless you have been invited by the house owner first, and especially if you are not lucky enough to possess a name associated with wealth, happiness, prosperity or longevity.Well, still plenty of time to get your name changed!

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Chinese New Year Quick Facts

Chinese:

春节 Chūn Jié /chwn-jyeah/

Also called:

'Spring Festival', Lunar New Year

2020 date:

Saturday, Jan. 25th

Holiday:

7 days (Jan. 24th-30th)

Celebrations:

New Year decorations, New Year's Eve dinner, firecrackers and fireworks, red envelopes...

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival,is China's most important festival. It is also the most important celebration for families and a week of an official public holiday.

Chinese New Year 2020 falls on Saturday, January 25, 2020, beginning a year of the Rat. China's public holiday will be January 24-30, 2020.

When Is Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year falls on Saturday, January 25 in 2020, and Friday, February 12 in 2021.

The date of the Chinese New Year is determined by the lunar calendar: the holiday falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice on December 21. Thus, each time the New Year in China falls on different dates of the usual Gregorian calendar, between January 21 and February 20.

The important dates during the period of Chinese New Year 2020:

See more about Chinese New Year calendar.

Why is it called the Spring Festival?

Though being in winter for most of China, the Chinese New Year is popularly known as the Spring Festival in China. Because it starts from the Beginning of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coordination with the changes of Nature) and marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

The Spring Festival marks a new year on the lunar calendar and represents the desire for a new life.

Chinese New Year 2020 (a Year of the Rat)

The Chinese zodiac gives each year an animal sign.

In popular Chinese astrology Chinese New Year is important ... For Chinese people, years begin at Chinese New Year, rather than January 1!

2020: A year of the Rat will start on January 25th.

2021: A year of the Ox will start on February 12th.

Find out your Chinese New Year horoscope from our Chinese Zodiac pages.

Chinese New Year Celebrations - the 4 Main Things

The main Chinese New Year activities include 1) putting up decorations, 2) eating reunion dinner with family on New Year's Eve, 3) firecrackers and fireworks, and 4) giving red envelopes and other gifts. These four things are introduced below.

Red decorations, red wrapped gifts, and red clothes are everywhere at Chinese New Year.

Public celebrations: In many Chinese cities, from New Year's Day, traditional performances can be seen: dragon dances, lion dances, and imperial performances like an emperor's wedding. A great variety of traditional Chinese products are on offer, and rarely seen Chinese snacks. City parks and temple fairs are the places to go for this.

1. Chinese New Year Decorations - Lucky Red Items

Every street, building, and house where Spring Festival is celebrated is decorated with red. Red is the main color for the festival, as red is believed to be an auspicious color.

Red Chinese lanterns hang in streets; red couplets are pasted on doors; banks and official buildings are decorated with red New Year pictures depicting images of prosperity.

Red couplets are put up for Chinese New Year.

Most public decoration is done a month before, but home decoration is traditionally done on Chinese New Year's Eve.

As 2020 will be a year of the Rat, decorations related to rats will be commonly seen. Look out for red rat dolls for children and New Year paintings with rats on.

See How to Decorate for Chinese New Year: The Top 7 Decorations.

2. Chinese New Year's Eve - Family Time

Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) is a time for families to be together. Chinese New Year's Eve is the most important time. Wherever they are, people are expected to be home to celebrate the festival with their families.

The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is called ' reunion dinner', and is believed to be the most important meal of the year.

New Year dinners have many meaningful dishes.

Like people waiting in New York Time Square to see the ball dropping, Chinese people have the custom of staying up late on Chinese New Year's Eve to welcome the new year's arrival.

After reunion dinner, families normally sit together to watch the Spring Festival Gala, one of the most watched TV shows in China. At the same time, most people send WeChat red envelopes or short messages to acquaintances by phone.

3. Firecrackers and Fireworks at Chinese New Year

It has long been a Chinese tradition to set off firecrackers from the first minute of their new year. Fireworks have increasingly been added to the cacophony. From public displays in major cities to millions of private celebrations in China's rural areas, setting off firecrackers and fireworks is an indispensable festivity.

Billions of fireworks go up in China at 12am Chinese New Year, the most anywhere at any time of year.

4. Chinese New Year Gifts and Red Envelopes

Like at Christmas in other countries, people exchange gifts during the Spring Festival. In rural areas and for older people the New Year gift giving tradition is still strong, but increasingly younger people prefer just to receive red envelopes (by hand or electronically).

At New Year red envelopes are customary in China.

The most common New Year gifts are red envelopes. Red envelopes have money in, and are believed to bring good luck because they are red. They are given to children and retirees. Customarily only employers give red envelopes to working adults.

See How Much Money Goes Inside in Red Envelopes.

Practical Guide: How to Celebrate the Chinese New Year

Businesses and public institutions in China take a 7-day Chinese New Year holiday, but those who need to (like us) will have some staff on duty. However, most large malls, tourist attractions, public transport, hotels, and restaurants will open as usual, or even stay open longer! Also see when transport will be overloaded and when local customs are due to happen.

Jan. 17 - 23

Streets decorated, cleaning, shopping, school holidays from Jan. 11.

Crazy busy: homeward journeys

End of year events; winding down

Jan. 24 ( CNY's Eve)

Homes decorated, reunion dinner, firecrackers, CCTV New Year Gala

Better, but locally busy

Most shops closed by the afternoon; businesses close

Jan. 25 ( CNY's Day)

12am, dawn, dusk: fireworks, firecrackers; family gifts, red envelopes; greetings

Quiet

No offices/banks open; only big malls open

Jan. 26 (CNY day 2)

Visiting nearby friends or relatives, firecrackers for guests and before dinner

Quiet

Most govt. offices shut; only big malls open.

Jan. 27 (CNY day 3)

Visiting friends and relatives in the city or friends and family in nearby villages

Locally busy, otherwise okay

Limited govt./bank services; only big malls open.

Jan. 28-29 (CNY day 4-5)

Visiting friends and relatives, or relaxing/traveling / returning to work.

Very busy: city return journeys begin

Limited govt./bank services; some shops reopen.

Jan. 30 (CNY day 6)

The public holiday period ends. China prepares to go back to work.

Very busy: more city return journeys

Some businesses reopen a day early.

Jan. 31-Feb. 8 (CNY days 7-15)

Life returns to normal; schools reopen Feb. 10; decorations up till Lantern Festival (Feb. 8).

Crazy busy: return travel rush

Business as normal by CNY day 8 (Feb. 1).

Chinese New Year Foods (Have Lucky Meanings)

Fish is a must for the Chinese New Year reunion dinner.

Food for the New Year emphasizes lucky symbolic meanings such as fish, which sounds like the Chinese word for 'surplus'. These foods are eaten during the 16-day festive season, and particularly for the New Year's Eve family reunion dinner.

The luckiest Chinese New Year foods (and their symbolic meanings) are:

Fish (an increase in prosperity)

Chinese dumplings (great wealth)

Glutinous rice cake (a higher income or position)

Read more on 7 Lucky Chinese New Year Foods and The Top 11 Chinese New Year Desserts.

Chinese New Year Superstitions - Things You Must/Mustn't Do

Lucky red, round Chinese New Year lanterns with lucky Chinese characters on are very popular.

In China, people are becoming less superstitious, but Chinese people traditionally believe that the year's start affects the whole year, so the Chinese Spring Festival is a season of superstitions. It's believed that what something looks like (color, shape), and what its name sounds like, gives it auspicious or ill-fated properties.

The Luckiest Things to Do at Chinese New Year

Giving money/gifts in lucky numbers and lucky red packaging with lucky greetings.

Eating lucky food like fish on New Year's Eve, especially carp or catfish with some left over for New Year's Day.

Lighting lots of red firecrackers and fireworks to scare away evil and bring good luck.

The Unlucky Things to Do at Chinese New Year

Having an accident, especially if it means hospital visits, crying, and breakages: all bad omens.

Giving gifts with unlucky meanings, colors, words, or numbers, or even saying something inauspicious.

Sweeping up on New Year's Day: don't "sweep all your luck away".

See more on Chinese New Year Taboos.

Chinese New Year Greetings

One of the most famous traditional greetings for Chinese New Year is the Cantonese kung hei fat choi, literally 'greetings, become rich'. In Mandarin that's gongxi facai /gong-sshee faa-tseye/.

Chinese New Year's History

Preparing a WeChat red envelope.

The festival has a history of over 3,000 years. Celebrations on lunar New Year's Day can be dated back to the ancient worship of heaven and earth. Over the centuries new traditions were added and celebrations became more entertainment-orientated. Read more on Chinese New Year History.

In 1967 food was rationed, and there was no money! Greetings were full of Communist fervor. Now people eat out for Chinese New Year, send e-money, and greet with instant messages on WeChat (the most popular app in China).

Chinese New Year Travel - Top Tips from Our Experts

At Chinese New Year, you can see many things in China that you wouldn't normally, like lion dances.

The festive period is one of the best times of the year to interact with Chinese people, and experience the local culture. However, it is also the busiest time of the year on China's transportation network. So, you might want to avoid the transport stress or seek out China's New Year culture, or both...

(We encourage you to find creative ways to share the content or images with your friends, family, colleagues and communities, provided that you acknowledge the copyright along the lines of "Copyright chinahighlights.com.")

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Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year 2020, Spring Festival Traditions)

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Chinese New Year Quick Facts Chinese: 春节 Chūn Jié /chwn-jyeah/ Also called: 'Spring Festival', Lunar New Year 2020 date: Saturday, Jan. 25th Holiday: 7 days (Jan. 24th-30th) Celebrations: New Year decorations, New Year's Eve dinner, firecrackers and fireworks, red envelopes... Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival,is China's most important festival.

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What must be done for Tet

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Preparations for the New Year begin a couple of weeks before the big day. This is a fun time full of anticipation and joy as we get ready for the thrill and excitement of the celebrations.

According to the traditions, this is the time to clean the house, prepare food for the feast and make banners and decorations special for the New Year.

Also important at this time is remembering and paying respects to the ancestors to earn favors and good fortune for the new year.

A clean house to welcome the New Year

Before the New Year comes, it is one of the Chinese New Year customs to clean the house from top to bottom to get rid off all the bad luck gathered in the previous year.

And after the New Year comes, you cannot sweep during the first days otherwise all the new luck will sweep away!

So one of your Chinese New Year activities will be to... clean your room! Wouldn't want all that accumulated bad luck for another year would you??!!

Cleaning house also means settling all your unfinished business to start fresh for the new year: Pay off all your debts, resolve all quarrels with friends, catch up with homework!!!

Make some Banners with New Year's Greetings

Red and gold banners with New Year messages of good luck decorate the entrances of houses as well as business establishments. And accordingly, you could decorate the entrance to your room, or put them up in the living room or near your main door.

Red and Gold are lucky colors for the Chinese, red symbolizes vitality of life and happiness, gold represents wealth and prosperity.

You can make your own Chinese New Year signs with bright red paper and markers or a brush if you prefer.

Here are some instructions to make your own New Year Banners including the "Lucky Characters" stroke by stroke.

And while we're at it, here are some more ideas of popular Chinese New Year decorations and ornaments as well as plants and flowers used widely during this time of the year.

Preparing Food and Putting Away the Knives

On New Year's Day, the families come together to celebrate and everything must be ready for this important fest.

Food must be prepared ahead of time, as one of the popular Chinese New Year superstitions dictates that all knives must be put away.

Using a knife during the first days of the New Year "cuts off" all the good luck for the coming year.

The New Year's feast takes many days to prepare and in addition, food for the next couple of weeks has to be plentiful as there will be hoards of visiting relatives and friends. Remember that food is very important to Chinese, but even more so, this is a time of abundance, lots of food signify prosperity for the coming year!

So what needs to be prepared? Here are some popular dishes that are traditionally present at the Chinese New Year meal.

The Chinese New Year Flower Markets

The regular flower markets which on a normal day are buzzing with activity, really come to life a couple of weeks prior to Chinese New Year as everyone prepares for the big day. Everybody flocks to the markets to prepare gifts and decorate the house with the traditional "lucky plants", these are some of the most popular:

orange trees

mandarin or kumquat trees

lucky bamboos

branches of cherry blossoms

stalks of pussy willows

Now the markets offer all sorts of merchandise well beyond plants and flowers for the house and people come out for the shopping as well as to enjoy the spirit of the holiday.

Paying respects to the Ancestors

The New Year Celebrations can only begin after paying respect to the ancestors.

On New Year's Eve, people will go to the temples and pray for good fortune for the new year.

They bring offerings of food and incense to please the spirits of the deceased so that they might bring good luck. They come to ask for a special favor perhaps, or just to appease the spirits if luck hasn't been that great lately.

Even now-a-days people from all walks of life come to pay their respects, housewives, business tycoons, students, shop-keepers... you name it. It is not unusual to find the temples even in the big modern cities like Hong Kong or Shanghai bustling with activity right around this time.

So now that all the preparations are done with, the long-awaited day arrives and the New Year's festivities can begin! There are many more Chinese traditions observed during this joyful time of the year:
Burning Chinese Paper Money

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Chinese New Year Traditions and Preparations

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According to Chinese New Year traditions, you must clean your house from top to bottom to get rid off all the bad luck gathered in the past year, settle all your debts, and put away all your knives, sonst the good luck will be cut-off!

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Tết Nguyên Đán, more commonly known by its shortened name Tết, is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam. It is the Vietnamese New Year which is based on the Lunar calendar, a lunisolar calendar. The name Tết Nguyên Đán is Sino-Vietnamese for Feast of the First Morning, derived from the Hán nôm characters 節元旦.

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Tet is all about starting out the new year correctly. That means cleaning and decorating your house, paying off your debts, paying respects to your family and friends and most importantly - eating well. In Vietnamese, you can say "an Tet" to literally denote eating Tet. Tet Nguyen Dan (translated as the "festival (or feast) of the first day") is the central holiday in Viet traditions. It's the only time during the year when the entire country is relaxing and resting. While many ideas are borrowed from the Chinese (e.g., firecrackers, lion dances, red money envelopes), the food part is pure Viet!

What's eaten differs from region to region in Vietnam because of differences in weather (thus limiting the ingredients on hand) and taste preferences. My parents are northerners but us kids were all born in the south so what we have enjoyed food-wise during Tet spans the entire country! Note that these are foods that will keep well for days. They're meant to be so because during Tet, you're suppose to be out having fun not slaving away in the kitchen!

If I had to limit myself to just a few items for Tet, I'd get my hands on the following:

Banh Chung - A square shaped rice package of sticky rice, mung bean puree and seasoned pork. It's wrapped in banana leaf and when you buy it at Vietnamese markets, it should also be wrapped in plastic and perhaps, tied with a little red ribbon for good luck. Banh chung looks like a small adobe brick. My mother makes hers but the 6-8 hour boiling process that cooks the packages is enough to deter many Vietnamese people to conveniently buy it. When you get your hands on one, you can eat it just as is if it's somewhat soft still - an indication that it's fresh. Poke at it with your finger to get a sense of freshness. Then peel back the layers (the rice should be tinged green from the banana and bamboo leaves) and cut it into wedges. You can use dental floss to cut it nicely if you want. The wedges ensure that each piece gets an equal portion of mung bean and pork. This may sound odd but I like to dip banh chung in a little sugar. The photo below is of a banh chung from Vietnam. Look at the detailed wrapping!

If your banh chung is hard and old or you have leftovers, you can fry it to a delicious crispiness. Cut it into chunks and fry it up into a crispy pancake and again, enjoy it with a little sugar. Use a nonstick frying pan, a little oil and moderate heat to make things easy on yourself. During the frying process, the banh chung will soften, giving you the opportune moment to use a wooden spatula to flatten it out and mesh it with the other chunks into a unified pancake. Flipping the banh chung pancake is a little tricky so use a plate to invert it out or if you're daring, flip it in the pan with a flick of the wrist. Sticky rice is pretty forgiving. For more details, peruse this page on banh chung and banh tet.

A caramel sauce dish - These dishes, called kho in Vietnamese, are terrific must haves for Tet. In the south, it's fatty pork leg, eggs and coconut water. Stewed pork riblets are excellent and so is a kho made with beef drop flank and ginger. These dishes can be prepared days ahead, which explains why kho (salty simmered/stewed meat dish) dishes are present at traditional Tet celebrations. If meat isn't your thing, then cook shrimp or fish in caramel sauce.

Viet cold cuts- Here's another convenient food for the holiday. These cold cuts can be purchased at Vietnamese markets or delis. If available, get some gio thu (headcheese), gio bo (silky beef and dill sausage) and cha mo (steamed pate of pork and lardons that's fried to a crisp in the end). Gio lua (basic silky sausage) is also good and to eat, you can buy some banh day, steamed sticky rice flour discs on banana leaves; banh day look like hockey pucks and are sold in Viet markets and delis too. Put a thickish slice of gio lua or cha mo in between the two banh day and dip it into a little fish sauce (thin it out if it's too salt for you).

Pickles - Those cold cuts need and accompaniment like a pickled shallot or leek - both are often sold in plastic bins in the produce section of a Viet market. Small white pickled leeks are also sold in small cans at Chinese markets. These members of the onion family are meant to help facilitate digestion of all the rich meats eaten during Tet.

Nuts and candied fruits - At the markets you'll find a wild assortment of brightly colored candied treats such as coconut, melon rind, and lotus seed. Also, watermelon seeds are also eaten during this holiday. Pick up one of these assortments for a fun nibble. They're typically a bit insipid I have to admit. But price dictates quality with regard to Asian food products, so spend a little and you'll be well rewarded!
Related information:

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Special Foods for Tet Celebrations - Viet World Kitchen

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Tet is all about starting out the new year correctly. That means cleaning and decorating your house, paying off your debts, paying respects to your family and friends and most importantly - eating well. In Vietnamese, you can say "an Tet" to literally denote eating Tet.

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In Vietnam, there could be no other occasions more special than Tet for all members in a family to unite and enjoy a wide range of hilarious activities during the holiday. Below are the top five most preferable Tet's activities Vietnamese people often do with family.

1. Watching firework on the New Year's Eve moment

Firework shooting to announce the arriving of a New Year is a yearly event expected by any Vietnamese on the night. The show of light is organized in big cities of Vietnam like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue or Da Nang, on the sky of the the best tourist attractions of the cities in order to provide best view and serve the largest number of viewers.

The sparkling art show on the sky in combination with the booming echoes of every shots seem to make people's hearts pumping faster and becoming more exciting to welcome the New Year. What would be cozier than members in a family hand in hand enjoying the night under the hilarious atmosphere?

2. Family parties

Parties with full of delicious traditional dishes is the main theme for the whole holiday of Tet. From the last day of the year, family's members all unite to enjoy "Tất Niên" Meal (the last meal of a Lunar New Year) to share all the sadness and happiness and experiences gained through the year. Not only that, the parties are also time to review family's tradition, show respect to elders and strengthen relationships between members.

During Tet, family parties can start from nowhere and there is not any exact time table for them besides the three main meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. A party may begin when some relatives or friends come to visit the host's home at any time since foods and drink are stored at their fullest level during Tet.

3. New Year's greetings

From the first day of the year, people start going around and greet their relatives and friends with the best wishes. This custom seems to be more common in villages than in big city because villagers live much more close than people in cities; also, they are often relatives of each other living in the same village. The order of people to be greeted is usually relatives first and then friends and colleague.

Elders' house would be the first destinations in which parents' house is the very first one. This custom is not simple exchanging wishes between guests and hosts, it is the chance for brothers and sisters and friends to meet each other after a long separated year.

4. Lucky money for children and elders

This tradition is undoubtedly the most awaited Tet's activity of all Vietnamese children. The custom is not a meaningless one since it does not only make children feel happier on Tet, it also educates them the value of money and how to save money for good purpose. Like its very definition, lucky money bring luck to children such as healthiness, intelligence and obedient and luck to the givers as well.

Read more about Lucky Money for Tet

5. Visiting pagoda

The lofty tradition reflexes religious belief of Vietnamese people has been preserved and developed for thousands years. People coming to pagodas and temple to pray for a happy new year with full of wishes may come true and showing respect and appreciation to Buddha and Gods who have been protecting and granting their wishes. Visiting pagodas could also a good way to enjoy Tet's atmosphere and forget about all the stress and worry of the previous year in the sacred space there. Vietnamese families usually visit pagodas and temples with all of their members as well as going in grand family as a way to show sincerity.

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5 most common family activities during Vietnamese Tet

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In Vietnam, there could be no other occasions more special than Tet for all members in a family to unite and enjoy a wide range of hilarious activities during the holiday. Below are the top five most preferable Tet's activities Vietnamese people often do with family.