Celebrate the Lunar New Year at the Library

Dragons, red envelopes and rice cakes. Get your good luck symbols out and get ready to ward off evil spirits—the Lunar New Year is quickly approaching! The holiday runs February 10 to 24 and this is the Year of the Dragon. The Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, is one of the most important celebrations of the year for many East and Southeast Asian cultures. Celebrants view it as a time to reconnect with family, honor ancestors, feast and celebrate the onset of spring. 

Year of the Dragon

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. Those born in these years (1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012) are often characterized as charismatic, ambitious and confident. The Year of the Dragon encourages us to be ambitious, creative and strong when facing challenges. By setting big goals and staying resilient, we can make the year 2024 a time of inspiration and personal achievements. 

If you’d like to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, we have Lunar New Year booklets in all our branches. Enjoy a color page, word search and more.  

Lunar New Year Traditions

We are excited to celebrate the Lunar New Year at the library. Along with a large collection of books, we also have several programs throughout February. We were able to chat with Sue Huang and Yan Zhu, two members of Chinese American Parents of Baltimore, an organization holding programs at our Cockeysville and White Marsh branches, about some of the traditions associated with the holiday.  

Editor’s Note: Some of these answers were shortened for this blog. 

Q: Can you tell us about some of the significant symbols of the Lunar New Year? 

A: Sue Huang—Symbols and rituals that hold significance during the celebration include: 

• Hongbao (Red envelope)—New Year red envelopes, also known as lucky money. The lucky money is usually given to the younger generation in red envelopes by the elders during New Year celebrations. It has a beautiful meaning of blessing and peace. Here are some important things to remember:
  • The amount of money in the red envelope should not be casual. It is usually an even number, which means good things come in pairs. 
  • Try to use new money to represent the New Year and new fortune. Avoid using old and damaged money. 
  • The red envelope should not be sealed. If it is sealed, it means that you will not be able to receive the happiness and wealth of the New Year. 

• Chun lian (Spring Festival couplets/scrolls)—Spring couplets generally consist of two sentences that echo each other and form a complete picture and are often equipped with horizontal scrolls to summarize or highlight the topics. In the creation process of Spring Festival couplets, people often use various rhetorical techniques, such as metaphors, personification and exaggeration, to express happiness and longing for the future. 
• Deng long (Lantern)—Lanterns are a common decoration during the Lunar New Year representing good luck and are often red to symbolize family reunion, family prosperity, happiness, brightness and other beautiful meanings. 
• Wu long and wu shi (Dragon dance and lion dance)—Common performances during the Lunar New Year celebrations symbolize seeking good luck and warding off evil spirits. 

Q: Let’s talk food! What’s the importance of food during the New Year?  

A: Sue Huang—The New Year's Eve dinner has various forms, and it consists of many delicious dishes to celebrate. Let's talk about the nine main dishes that are often eaten. 

1. Chicken—Chinese have always had the custom of having a feast with chicken. Chicken is homophonic with "ji"(lucky), which has the meaning of auspiciousness and celebration symbolizing good luck in the coming year. 
2. Fish—Fish is homophonic with "yu" (surplus and extra), which means a prosperous life in the coming year and represents good wishes for the new year. 
3. Cabbage—Cabbage is homophonic with "bai cai" (hundreds of wealth) or a hundred fortunes, bringing wealth to the family for the new year. 
4. Tofu—Fu is homophonic with "fu" (blessing), which symbolizes luxurious food and clothing with the meaning of living a rich and happy life in the coming year. 
5. Rice cake—It is homophonic with "nian gao" (rising year by year), which means one's academic and career performance are improving annually. 
6. Sleek—It's homophonic with "jiu" (long time). It indicates long-lasting good fortune and wealth, and expresses wishes and expectations for a better life. 
7. Four-joy meatballs—Round in shape, signifying a happy family reunion. 
8. Pork hock—This is a must-have dish for the New Year's Eve dinner to symbolize richness, wealth and treasure. 
9. Chinese bacon—Symbolizes farewell to the old and welcoming the new, providing expectations that everyone in the family will have good luck in the new year. 

However, there are differences between Northerners and Southerners when it comes to the food staples of New Year's Eve dinner. In the South, the staple food is rice, while Northerners' New Year's Eve dinner features the staple of dumplings. 

Q: Do you have a favorite dish? 

A: Yan Zhu—A cherished part of my childhood involves savoring nian gao, commonly known as rice cake. Unlike the dry varieties found in grocery stores, this traditional delicacy is crafted primarily from glutinous rice and sugar. The cake's sticky and chewy texture beautifully symbolizes the strength of family bonds and the optimistic desire for ongoing unity. To enhance its aroma, some choose to wrap it in bamboo leaves. Different regions in China vary in the ingredients that they use and the way rice cake is cooked. 

Q: Anything else you’d like to add? 

A: Sue Huang—With the influence of globalization, the Spring Festival has gradually become a global festival. There are activities to celebrate the Spring Festival all over the world. The activities during the Spring Festival strengthen the emotional connection between families and promote social harmony and unity. The way to celebrate the Spring Festival has evolved with more innovative and modern elements incorporated, but no matter how times change, the core spirit of the Spring Festival is to reunite families, inherit culture and pray for a better future. 

Book, Books, Books

Q: Do you have a favorite book you read with your children? 

A: Sue Huang—Two books that my kids and I have really enjoyed are “Lunar New Year,” written by Hannah Eliot and illustrated by Alina Chau, and “Ruby’s Chinese New Year,” written by Vickie Lee and illustrated by Joey Chou. Both authors explain Lunar New Year customs, the 12 zodiac animals and the must-have foods on the New Year’s Eve dinner table in simple and easy-to-understand terms with brightly colored illustrations, making the book more vivid and interesting. 

If you’re ready to start learning more about the holiday, enjoy this collection of books discussing food, traditions, relationships and more.