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One of the Chinese New Year traditions I continued from my family is making dumplings as a family on New Year's Eve. This year, we weren't able to travel back to China. So I called my grandpa and followed his detailed instruction to make dumplings from the scratch. My boys were so happy. We put two candy (hichew) in two of our dumplings as our lucky dumplings. When the boys ate the lucky dumplings "fujiao", they were thrilled. It was just so nice to connect with my family, and create meaningful moments together. Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all have a fantastic year!

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My friends and I made dumplings by ourselves for the first time!!

We are all from China and been in the U.S. since high school, so for 10 years none of us have had the chance to celebrate Lunar New Year with families that are back in China. It feels good to have friends here because home is wherever you get to hang out with the people you love :)

Josia Yuan, LDIT '22

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My family is from Taiwan but we live in Maryland! Every Chinese New Year, we get together with a Maryland family with adopted children from China who we have been family friends with for over two decades. We get together to eat Chinese food and wear the lucky color red. My family will also wrap dumplings together and play mahjong, and it's a wonderful way to celebrate CNY with family in a lowkey way in America that still reminds us of the strength of our traditions.
Cat Huang (ELOE '22)

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I grew up watching my mom make dumplings from scratch every Lunar New Year. I love seeing the thought and care she puts into each step, from making the dough, folding the dumplings, and bringing them to a boil. As I grew older, I got to join in on the folding festivities even though my skills are severely lacking and, quite frankly, embarrassing.

I am grateful that I grew up with the traditions of Lunar New Year because it allows me to feel connected to my cultural heritage.

I cherish these memories and always look forward to spending this time with my family. Even though I can't be with them this year, I look forward to spending it with new friends and creating new traditions.

(Branda Sun, LDIT '22)

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Everyone year, the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California hosts a Tết (Lunar New Year) Festival in Orange County, CA. I remember going with my parents and friends, dressed in our traditional Ao Dais, to take pictures in the Cultural Village exhibit and eat the food that they were selling. I feel fortunate to have such a large Vietnamese community in my hometown where we are able to share our culture and celebrate Lunar New Year together.

Jenny Nguyen (EPA '22)

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Chengdu is known for spicy food and pandas! For the Lunar New Year, we will have a lot of peppers in our food -- Kungpao Chicken and Mapo Tofu are often the non-spicy ones by comparison!

After dinner, we will watch television as a whole family. CCTV of China always hosts a huge gala on which you can see all kinds of shows, from Celine Dion performing My Heart Will Go On to standup comedies.

At Midnight, we will do some fireworks!

Oh wow, all beautiful memories!

-- Mike Zhang, LDIT '22

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The first incense of the new year, Jade Temple

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I miss staying up till 4 am to go to the Jade Temple on the lunar new year's eve with my family for the first incense, also my only incense for most of the years. People would dress up and get in lines head-to-toes, and ashes from their incenses would burn my brand-new down jacket years after years. I would be starving by the end of it and go for a bowl of vegan noodles in the canteen. I never knew what to say to the Buddhas when it was my turn, but the sheer amount of hope and resolutions on people's faces is so magical that I often just hope that all of their dreams can come true in the year to come. (Ever Zhang, LDIT '22)

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Thank you for your interest in Mongolian tradition. Lunar New Year is one of the major holidays we celebrate in Mongolia. This holiday is all about meeting your closed and loved ones, as well as meeting/visiting all your relatives and extended families that you haven't seen for a year or more... You can take a look at more detailed celebration traditions from this link: https://www.toursmongolia.com/mongolia_travel_news/tsagaan-sar-the-main-celebration-of-the-mongols

I also put the link of youtube video of Mongolian popular folk song and music. I want you to listen to it closed eyes and imagining a sunrise! This is how Mongolians perceive sunrise :)

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Н. Норовбанзад   Уяхан замбуу тивийн наран

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On lunar new year, all my family members will come back home from different places. They play Majiang every year. All the female members in my family will wear red jacket, they believe red can bring them fortune and luck for next year. It has been three years, I didn't come back home with them to celebrate the lunar new year, I miss them so much.

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In Chengdu, people celebrate Chinese New Year by playing a tile-based game mah-jongg and enjoying teatime and sunshine with family and friends.

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San Francisco Chinatown street festivities and vendors leading up to Lunar New Year

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The streets of San Francisco Chinatown are vibrant and incredibly busy during Lunar New Year. When I was growing up, I would walk the streets with my grandparents as they gathered food and supplies for the celebration. During this time, we would also attend the lunch and dinner parties hosted in the banquet halls located in the area.

Lauren Hom (LDIT, '22)

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The Lunar New Year celebration in Vietnam is called Tết. It is considered by many the most important holiday of the year. During this holiday, most people would have a week off work or school. Tết is meaningful because it’s home-coming time, time for everyone to put aside everything and just focus on their family. We often decorate the house with peach or apricot blossoms, eat chưng cake - a square sticky rice cake, and give children lucky money in red envelopes.

Tết is also meaningful to me personally because it’s my nickname. I was born on a lunar new year’s eve, so my grandma named me Hoa, meaning flowers - flowers for the new year; then my mom gave me a nickname - Tết, because I was born in this time.

In this photo, I was wearing áo dài, a traditional dress that Vietnamese women often wear during Tết.
Hoa Pham - LDIT '22

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Raja Uda Food Court, Jalan Raja Uda, Kampung Tengah, Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia

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Celebrating Lunar New Year with Jessica and Ashton

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When I was little, my family celebrated Lunar New Year. We will have a reunion dinner on Lunar New Year's eve, then clean the house, and then after 12.00 midnight, we will visit the temple near our house. On the day of LNY, we are not allowed to sweep our floor, wash our clothes and hair. We will be off visiting families and friends. There, we will gamble with the cash from our red packets. No matter where we go, there will be an abundance of food, cookies, and snacks. Some of my favorites are pineapple tarts, kuih kapit, peanut cookies, and kuih bangkit.
Leah Porter

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I grew up in Singapore but when I was a kid, my family and I would return to Malaysia during Lunar New Year to visit our family. I remember playing Mahjong with my cousins and having my favorite South East Asia Chinese New Year snacks, such as mini Pineapple Tarts and mini Spicy Shrimp Rolls. a.k.a Hae Bee Hiam (Hokkien Dialect). The highlight of Lunar New Year in Malaysia would always be the firecrackers! Wishing everyone a happy Lunar New Year, Xin Nian Kuai Le, Shen Ti Jian Kang! ～ Ling Tan

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For Lunar New Year, our family cooks a larger than normal dinner. Chicken and duck are usually the main entrees because those symbolize fortune for the new year. This is also a stock image, we do not drink canada dry at the dinner table (yet?!)

It's been a couple of years (since high school) that I've been able to celebrate with my family, so I've always celebrated with those interested/who celebrate with a dinner out!

Colin Liu (EPA 22)

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During New Year, we welcome our ancestors home with a huge feast. I helped my mom prep and cook weeks in advance and set up the altar for three days. - (Camlinh To, LDIT '22)

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It's the 5th year that I haven't had a chance to celebrate the Lunar New Year with my family since I am studying abroad. The Lunar New Year in Vietnamese is called "Tết". "Tết" for me is the best time of the year when I can see all of my family members and give them the best wishes for the new year, eat the traditional food, and receive lucky money from adults. One of the best memories that I miss is going to the flower market with my mom on New Year's Eve to pick the best flowers and decorate our house. Now that I am 12-hour time zone away, celebrating Lunar New Year with my family is just a quick video call with them. I really miss my family and I hope I could have a chance to return home during the Lunar New Year and celebrate with them!
(Heather Do - HDE '22)

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A lion dance inside my family's favourite restaurant, 'Phoenix Palace' in London (2016)

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My family is Malaysian/Singaporean Chinese and moved to the UK in the 1960s. As we had work or school, Chinese New Year was celebrated on the weekends where we held a family reunion meal, wore red and shared 'ang pows' (red packets filled with money). At home we'd have steamboat (hot pot) and other specialities from SE Asia: yee sang (raw fish prosperity salad), a whole chicken/fish dish, Hokkien noodles and dim sum dumplings.

I have always loved sharing this holiday with friends as it isn't understood by everyone in the UK. My parents would give 'ang pows' to our close friends and share Chinese sweets and red flowers. I remember packing chopsticks and cookies to share with my friends in Year 1 (5 years old) and as an adult I'd bring in red fruits, citrus and chocolate coins to share with my colleagues at work. New Year is prosperous time where family can come together, fill our bellies and feel lucky to share each other's company.

Natalie Sew (LDIT '22)

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My mom waving a music-playing, glow-up dragon lantern with my twin brother hiding in the back at school for Lunar New Year, circa 2001-02.

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Growing up in a small white town on Long Island, my family didn't usually do much for LNY at home--hot pot and red envelopes. But in 1st and 2nd grade, my mom would come in to me and my siblings' classes to teach a lesson on Chinese New Year. She taught about the zodiac, did calligraphy, and paper cutting demonstrations, brought lanterns, did a lion dance, and brought dumplings (Ling Lings) and fried rice. I talked to her recently about her journey to the US from Taiwan and this picture, and realized how my mom's (at the time cringeworthy) lessons were her ways of protecting us and showing to us and our non-asian peers that it was cool to be Chinese/Taiwanese. (Ja-Hon Wang, EPA '22)