Today, February 17th, is the first day of Lunar New Year.

What is Lunar New Year?

Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year, marks the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon 15 days later. It originated with ancient agricultural societies celebrating the end of harvest season and the arrival of spring. While there are many traditions and history behind the way the day is celebrated, it all boils down to being celebrated with people you love, and a festival meant to plan for a year with good energy and prosperity.

Typical Traditions

There are many traditions and things you should or should not do throughout the Lunar New Year 15-day celebration. On the first day, you should not cut/wash your hair, clean your house, take out the trash, or do laundry. As doing so may wash out your luck and cut ties with people from your life unintentionally. You should not give money away as it will block your wealth for the rest of the year, and you should not ask to borrow money either as it will keep you without it the rest of the year.

You are meant to wear red the first few days of the year, to scare away fear and bad energy. This tradition comes from the legend of Nian, a beast believed to eat and attack humans on New Year’s Day but was scared of the color red and loud noises. This is why the festival is always full of music, high energy, and the color red. The tradition has evolved into representing wearing red to scare away bad energy and danger in general as opposed to simply scaring away Nian. This year many are saying not to wear red because it is the year of the fire horse and red may anger it, causing bad luck for the year. Those who have celebrated for years disagreed, explaining it is important to wear red at least the first day of the year to ward off bad energy but stick to earth tones the rest of the year to combat the aggressivity of the fire horse.

All of these traditions are based on ancient traditions and mythology, so they may not be for everyone. But everyone can celebrate Lunar New Year, although celebrated primarily in Asia, it is not exclusive to the continent. Be sure to connect with your loved ones this new year and push yourself to achieve everything you know you deserve.