Five Things You Should Know About Chinese (Lunar) New Year

Happy Lunar New Year everybody!

The celebration of the Chinese New Year begins this Sunday. Let's usher in the Year of the Snake by learning about the most important holiday in much of Asia.

First, here's a snap shot of Iowa. There's approximately 6,700 people living in Iowa that speak Chinese, and more than 1,000 of them reside in Iowa City. Chinese people represent about two percent of the population in Iowa City but with the large number of Chinese students living here, the real number is actually a bit higher and set to get higher every year. Furthermore, according to Zip Atlas stats, there are approximately 4,000 people of Asian descent living in Iowa City at this time.

Chinese students will hold events this week across Iowa City celebrating the day, meeting together to celebrate with good food and companionship.

Not to be outdone, the Vietnamese Students Association hosted their New Years festivities on Saturday:

Iowa VSA's Lunar New Year (Tet Nguyen Dan)

Iowa's Vietnamese Student Association will be hosting their Lunar New Year, the most important holiday in many Asian countries. This annual event is open to students and the general public. Highlights include a free dinner, various multicultural performances, and a performance from a famous Vietnamese singer.

Meanwhile, the Japanese University of Iowa students celebrated the new year Saturday by watching Battle Royale, the classic Japanese film about children hunting each other to the death in a brutal post-apocalyptic world that makes Hunger Games look like a walk in the park.

Or that probably wasn't a New Year's event at all, it was just a film at the Bijou. I just wanted to mention that Battle Royale is better than Hunger Games.

Now, here's what you should know about the Lunar New Year.

1. Though often called Chinese New Year, it is celebrated in several countries through out Asia and the world. It celebrates the beginning of spring.

It starts on the first day of the lunar calendar and continues until the first full moon, which is Feb. 10 this year.

While traditions change from country to country, many families will thoroughly clean their homes on the eve of the New Year to "sweep out" the bad luck and make room for good luck.

However, families do not clean on New Year because that sweeps away the good luck.

2. Many myths and folk tales are attached to the Chinese New Year. A popular one involves a beast called the Nian.

The Nian would appear on the first day of the year to eat crops, livestock and even children.

However, people learned that the Nian is scared of the color red. That is why many people will wear red on Chinese New Year, hang red lanterns or scrolls from their home or even paint their window frames the fortuitous color.

3. On the eve of the New Year celebration, families gather for the Reunion Dinner.

Traditional dishes depend on the country and culture, however some of the popular offerings include dumplings (which symbolize wealth,) duck, pork and fish.

However, the fish is intentionally not finished. The reason for this stems from a Chinese pun. "Fish" is a homophone for "surplus," so families always leave a little left over.

In the south of China, it is common to make a cake called Nian gao. Pieces of the sticky cake are also shared with friends and relatives.

4. Children begin the New Year by wishing their parents and elders a happy and lucky year.

In return, the elders often give the children a red envelope with money in it called a Hong Bao.

5. This Sunday begins the Year of the Snake.

It is also a "water" year in the Wu Xing cycle, which is comprised of the five Chinese elements -- wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

The information for this article came from the Wikipedia pages for Chinese New Year, Reunion Dinner, Wu Xing, Hong Bao and Nian gao

This article was adapted from an original written by Jason Lea.