Lunar New Year History

A brief history of lunar new year lunar new year is one of the world s most widely celebrated holidays with one sixth of the world s population taking part in the revelry.

Lunar new year history. So many revellers return to hometowns for the holiday that it has been dubbed the world s largest annual human migration. Chinese new year has evolved over a long period of time and its customs have undergone a long development process. In china festivities for lunar new year last 15 days each of which has a specific set of traditions.

One such practice is a homecoming prior to the first day of the lunar new year. The origin of the chinese new year festival can be traced back to about 3 500 years ago. Millions of people in china hong kong taiwan vietnam and other asian countries celebrate lunar new year.

Chinese new year also known as the lunar new year or the spring festival is the most important among the traditional chinese festivals. Each year on new year s eve nian would rise from the sea prowl the coastal villages and feed on the villagers and their livestock. The lunar new year is a new year celebration like 1 january in the gregorian calendar.

The story behind the lunar new year involves a mythical beast named nian meaning year or 年 a sea dwelling creature with the head of a lion and the body of an ox. Lunar new year which falls this year on saturday january 25 is a time for family reunions plenty of food and some very loud celebrations. Japanese new year prior to 1873 ryukyu present.

Modern china actually uses a gregorian calendar. Other asian countries such as korea japan and vietnam also celebrate the new year using the lunar calendar. The following east asian and southeast asian lunar new year celebrations are or were based on the traditional chinese lunisolar calendar occurring in late january or early february.

The dates of the holiday vary from year to year beginning some time between january 21 and february 20. The date of chinese new year which is also called spring festival changes every year as it is based on the lunar calendar. Chinese new year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice.