Lunar New Year
A Brief History
Lunar New Year is a holiday period that marks the beginning of the lunar year. It’s celebrated as a major holiday in China, Korea, Vietnam, and other countries with large Chinese populations. According to legend, the holiday started because there was a dragon that destroyed crops and ate people on New Years Eve. In order to scare away the dragon, people marked their doorways with red scrolls and set off firecrackers to make noise. Since then, Lunar New Year has become a way to start the year by bringing in good luck and fortune. Many traditions symbolize this through food and decorations. Different cultures have their own unique traditions, for example hanging a 福 fortune in your home upside down so that fortune will “arrive” or eating mango because in Vietnamese it sounds similar to ”wealth“. One tradition that every child looks forward to is receiving red or white envelopes of cash from their elders aftering giving a New Year greeting. Another tradition common across cultures is huge family reunion meals with extended family, often requiring travel and days of advanced preparation. This year is the Year of the Ox, the legend of the zodiac... well that’s a story for another day.
How do APCC Members celebrate Lunar New Year?
We surveyed members of our church about their culture
and asked them what Lunar New Year traditions they grew up with
“What kind of foods did you eat for Lunar New Year?”
“Traditional Korean foods such as rice cake soup, galbi, Korean pancakes and lots of kimchi!”,
“Chicken, rice cakes, steamed fish, BBQ pork, fried skin pork, long life noodles, so delicious!”，
“Dumplings, sweet rice balls, spring rolls”
“I remember a whole array of Chinese and Filipino dishes!”
“Banh Chung (square steamed sticky rice cake with pork filling), ginger chicken, Nem Chua – Sour Meat Pie, Canh Kho Qua Don Thit – Bittermelon Stuffed With Meat”
“Banh Tet, braised pork belly, lots of fruits mainly including soursop, coconut papaya, mango, because their name together sounds like “wishing for just enough to spend”
“Pigs feet with a red sauce, radish cakes (law bak goh), leen goh, dish that looks like it has a bunch of hair in it (fat choy), deep fried sesame ball”
“Hot pot, dumplings, nian gao”
What does this mean to us as Christians?
Growing up in Christian homes, our parents drew a clear line between the cultural traditions and the spirituality of Lunar New Year that’s influenced by Buddhism and Taoism. To most, Lunar New Year wasn’t about deities or luck or fortune. It was a way to spend time with extended family, celebrate culture without believing in the superstitions, and thank God for all that he has done and will do. It showed how a community celebrates together, for example going to a church in Chinatown with dragon dances and firecrackers going off.
Some of us didn’t grow up in Christian households but knew that these superstitions were merely that. Sometimes it felt like obligation to follow them but now it fuels a thankfulness that the gospel is not a list of do’s and don’ts in order to receive God’s blessing. The holiday helps us acknowledge that our blessings are not ours alone; they didn’t come from just our parents and ancestors as we were taught growing up, but from the ultimate giver, God.
You might wonder what aspects of Lunar New Year are congruent with a gospel-centered life? While the emphasis on doing things to receive prosperity and good health contradicts our belief that worldly blessings come from God and can’t be earned (nor are they the ultimate goal), there are also qualities that we take away. We gain greater appreciation for how God has uniquely created not just individuals, but also groups through richness of culture. Desiring unity, respecting the elderly, appreciating the work of those who came before us, blessing the younger generation, and valuing fellowship in community are all opportunities for us to show love towards God’s family. But instead of family bound by blood, we are adopted into a family bound by God’s grace through Christ’s sacrifice.
