Lunar New Year is celebrated in different places and in different ways. Read about some of the traditions below and then share some of yours!
Showing respect to elders
In many parts of Asia, the younger generation greet their parents and grandparents with good wishes for the year ahead and show their respect for the older generation. For example, in Korea, the young people kneel on the ground and bow deeply. They receive an envelope of lucky money from their parents or grandparents too.
Traditional food
In China, many people eat fish dishes because the Chinese word for 'fish' sounds similar to 'surplus', meaning you will have plenty.
In Korea, people serve a special soup. Thin pieces of rice cake are boiled in a clear soup with slices of beef and vegetables. The rice cake pieces are round and may represent coins and money. It is said that eating this soup at New Year makes you one year older. People joke that if you have two bowls of soup, you'll be two years older!
Inviting lucky people
In Viet Nam, people believe that the first person to enter their home in the New Year will decide their fortune for the year ahead. They are careful to invite someone who is kind, well behaved and successful.
We want to hear from you!
- Do you have any traditions like these in your country or culture?
- What traditions in your country or culture are meaningful to you?
You can find more tips for writing about a tradition where you live on our A class forum page.
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In Saudi Arabia we have religious day called Aid Alfeder, it special day it’s comes after Ramadan this is the fasting month for Muslim people, they pray and thank allah for all for grace and then celebrate 🎉 , visit their families and give the children money and sweet , and also some people travel or take picnic 🧺 .
In Germany we have a fun New Year's tradition called "Bleigießen". It literally means "lead pouring" and is a form of molybdomancy, a technique of divination where molten metal is dropped into water and the resulting (often weird) shape is interpreted as an omen for the year to come. Since lead was found to be toxic, nowadays tin is used instead. During the time befor New Year, one can buy "tin pouring" kits with little tin ingots, a ladle to melt them over a flame and sometimes even a manual to help interpret the shapes.
Below a photo of how the final shapes may look like. It's always a lot of fun to try to interpret them and you really need a good amount of imagination.
That sounds like a lot of fun -- my kids would really get into that and I'm sure I would too.
I don't know how to interpret these forms, but if you're interested, I see powerful creative energy and a suggestion to remember what you're working towards!
Kirk
LearnEnglish team