Which Asian Cultures Celebrate Lunar New Year? Traditions and Customs Across Asia

88tumble
Feb 19
4 min read

Lunar New Year is not just a “Chinese” holiday—it’s a family of New Year celebrations shared across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of the Himalayas. From Chinese Chunjie to Vietnamese Tết and Korean Seollal, each culture has its own way of welcoming a fresh start while honoring ancestors and community.

What Is Lunar New Year?

Lunar New Year refers to New Year festivals based on lunar or lunisolar calendars, which track moon phases and sometimes the sun. The exact date shifts each year, usually falling between late January and mid‑February.

Common themes across these celebrations include:

Family reunions and homecoming travel.
Ancestor worship and spiritual rituals.
Symbolic foods for luck, health, and prosperity.
New clothes, new beginnings, and cleaning away bad luck.

Chinese New Year (Chunjie) – China, Taiwan, and the Chinese Diaspora

Where it’s celebrated: Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Chinese communities worldwide.

Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival or Chunjie, is the most widely recognized Lunar New Year celebration. It typically lasts 15–16 days and ends with the Lantern Festival.

Key Chinese New Year traditions:

Deep cleaning and decorating in red: Homes are cleaned before New Year’s Day and decorated with red couplets, lanterns, and paper cuts to sweep away bad luck and invite fortune.
Reunion dinner (nián yè fàn): On New Year’s Eve, families gather for a large feast with dishes like whole fish (abundance) and dumplings (wealth).
Red envelopes (hóngbāo): Elders gift money in red packets to children and younger relatives for luck and blessings.
Firecrackers, lion and dragon dances: Noise, parades, and performances are believed to scare away evil spirits and welcome a prosperous year.
Temple visits and ancestor offerings: Many families pray at temples and offer incense or food to ancestors.

Vietnamese Tết (Tết Nguyên Đán)

Where it’s celebrated: Vietnam and Vietnamese diaspora communities.

Tết is Vietnam’s most important holiday, marking both the lunar new year and the arrival of spring. It blends Confucian, Buddhist, and folk practices with distinct Vietnamese elements.

Key Tết traditions and customs:

Spring cleaning and ancestor graves: Families clean homes and visit ancestral graves before Tết to tidy and offer prayers, food, and incense.
Kitchen Gods ceremony: On Kitchen God Day, offerings and a live carp are prepared so the household gods can report to heaven.
Wrapping bánh chưng and bánh tét: Families gather to make square and cylindrical sticky rice cakes filled with mung bean and pork, symbolizing earth and gratitude.
Five-fruit trays and altars: Fruit arrangements and special dishes are placed on ancestor altars to invite luck and honor roots.
Lucky money and first visitor of the year: Children receive red envelopes, and families carefully choose the first person to enter the home, as they’re believed to set the year’s fortune.

Korean Seollal – Korean Lunar New Year

Where it’s celebrated: South Korea, North Korea, and Korean diaspora communities.

Seollal is one of Korea’s biggest holidays, typically observed over three days centered on the first day of the lunar year. It combines ancestral rites with family gatherings and traditional games.

Key Seollal traditions:

Charye (ancestral rites): Families set a table with carefully arranged dishes and perform formal bows to honor ancestors, then share the food.
Sebae (New Year’s bows): Younger family members bow to elders, offering New Year greetings and receiving words of blessing and often money.
Eating tteokguk: A soup made from sliced rice cakes is eaten; finishing a bowl symbolizes becoming one year older and starting with a “clean” slate.
Wearing hanbok and playing folk games: People wear traditional clothing and play yutnori, kite flying, and other seasonal games.

Tibetan and Himalayan Losar

Where it’s celebrated: Tibet and Tibetan communities in Nepal, India, Bhutan, and beyond.

Losar is the Tibetan New Year, celebrated according to Tibetan lunar calendars and often tied closely to Buddhist practice.

Key Losar customs:

Monastery rituals and offerings: Monks perform special prayers and rituals to clear away negativity and invite blessings.
Household altars and “white foods”: Families clean their homes, decorate altars, and eat foods like yogurt and butter to symbolize purity and prosperity.
Community visits and greetings: People visit relatives and neighbors to exchange wishes for an auspicious year.

Mongolian Tsagaan Sar

Where it’s celebrated: Mongolia and Mongolian communities in surrounding regions.

Tsagaan Sar, or “White Moon,” is Mongolia’s lunar New Year and one of its most important holidays.

Key Tsagaan Sar traditions:

Extensive home preparations: Families spend weeks cleaning yurts and homes, preparing meat, dairy, and special holiday foods.
Respectful greetings: People greet elders with formal arm‑supporting gestures and exchange traditional phrases for good fortune.
Feasting and visiting: Multiple days are spent visiting relatives, sharing large meals, and maintaining kinship ties.

Lunar New Year in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia

Where it’s celebrated: Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and more—often through Chinese diaspora communities.

While each country has its own national calendar holidays, Lunar New Year remains a major event wherever there are large Chinese communities.

Regional highlights:

Taiwan: 15–16 days of celebrations, similar to mainland China, with temple visits, night markets, and a Lantern Festival to close the season.
Singapore: A 15‑day celebration with lion dances, temple visits, massive street light‑ups, and the famous Chingay parade showcasing multicultural performances.
Malaysia and Indonesia: Chinese Malaysians celebrate with open houses, lion dances, and family feasts, while Chinese Indonesians observe Imlek with temple worship and blended local customs.
Philippines: Filipino‑Chinese communities host dragon dances, fireworks, and red‑decorated Chinatown festivities, often blending local Catholic and Chinese practices.

Do Japan and Other Countries Still Celebrate Lunar New Year?

Japan officially shifted to the Gregorian calendar in the 19th century and now celebrates New Year on January 1. However, some local communities, cultural groups, and Chinatown districts still mark Lunar New Year with smaller events.

In South Asia, certain Buddhist and ethnic communities in Nepal, Bhutan, and India also celebrate versions of Lhosar based on lunar calendars.

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