Lunar New Year. Elaborate dragon dances, bright-red money envelopes and flowery traditional clothing. Typically associated with the Sinosphere — various East and Southeast Asian countries, like China, Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan — this is what most in the United States imagine the Lunar New Year looks like.
But how does Lunar New Year differ from regular New Year? Where does it come from?
In general, three types of calendars exist: lunar calendars, solar calendars and lunisolar calendars. Lunar calendars typically keep track of time by just using the moon. Solar calendars keep track of time using just the sun. Lunisolar calendars, on the other hand, keep track of time using both.
In history, there have been as many different calendars as there have been different people trying to keep track of time. Over the years, countries around the world have largely agreed to use the Gregorian Solar Calendar — the main calendar most people are familiar with—in business and everyday life. However, there are still other surviving calendars used due to historical significance, religious significance or both.
So, Lunar New Year’s literal definition is “the new year of a lunar calendar.” Despite that, the Lunar New Year we know doesn’t meet this definition. Those multinational celebrations are based on the lì (the Chinese Lunisolar Calendar), a calendar that keeps track of months with both the sun and moon. This means Lunar New Year is a misnomer — it doesn’t mean what it describes!
This is due to Lunar New Year’s history. The date and customs of the typical Lunar New Year first originated in China — called the Spring Festival in Chinese. According to Britannica, the Spring Festival’s origins are based on a Chinese legend of a monster that would attack every year, unless scared away by the festivities and noise of the Spring Festival. Because of ancient China’s legacy as a regional power in Asia, the Spring Festival’s customs and lì based date spread to surrounding countries, like Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. This was usually spread either by migrating Chinese populations or annexations of the ancient equivalent of these modern-day countries.
When Chinese immigrants came to America in the 1850s, they kept their traditions. This led to the Spring Festival being dubbed by most Americans as the “Chinese New Year.”
According to an article on Lunar New Year by NBC, “The first Chinese New Year in the U.S. — and the reason Lunar New Year is often associated with Chinese culture — can be traced through immig[r]ation history. The first wave of Chinese immigrants in the mid-1800s brought with them their homeland’s traditions, including how to welcome the new year.”
As Korean, Filipino and Vietnamese diasporas began immigrating to America in the years beyond, they found that having their celebrations generalized under the Chinese New Year ignored their diverse identities and interpretations of the Spring Festival. “In 1986, the San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade, one of the largest Lunar New Year celebrations in the U.S., added an unofficial secondary description to its culturally specific title — Lunar New Year — as a nod to inclusivity,” said NBC.
When the term Lunar New Year was chosen, the organization might have been more focused on creating an inclusive name, rather than literal accuracy. Because the shared lì calendar uses the moon as a part of its timekeeping, organizers likely latched on to that difference to create today’s well-known name.
When Lunar New Year comes around near the end of this month, don’t forget about all the other New Year celebrations taking place. Just as Lunar New Year celebrates diversity, take a moment to do the same in all the celebrations of the future ahead. To everyone, regardless of calendar, country or place, have a happy New Year!
