Lunar New Year: Family, food and colour as millions celebrate Year of the Snake – BBC.com

Iris Zeng
Reporting from Sydney

Under a traditional gate in Sydney’s Chinatown, a skillful lion dance performance shakes to the beat of drums and cymbals.

Lifting the costume, three young dancers emerge, led by Shifu [Master] Edison. He says: “We sweat a lot, especially during the summer. We love doing it.”

Fellow participant Alex, who has been dancing since age five, says, “You have to use all parts of your body. Footwork definitely helps – but all together, it makes the lion come alive.”

Sydney’s 19-day celebration draws on many influences and will see festivities ranging from a dragon boats festival to a Korean dancefloor.

“I’m from Malaysia of Chinese heritage,” City of Sydney Councillor Robert Kok tells the BBC. “This is the most important cultural day for my community and for me personally, as well.”

Koey Lee and Joyce Lee
BBC Chinese, in Hong Kong

As families gather for holiday celebrations, many elderly Hong Kongers face a quieter festival alone.

“I used to spend days preparing for the New Year feast,” said Ah Chu, 78. The empty chair at her dinner table is a common sight across the city, where thousands of elderly parents have been left behind in a wave of migration.

Three years ago, Ah Chu’s daughter moved to Britain, changing what was once a busy family gathering. “Now, there’s no point in buying festive decorations or preparing elaborate meals,” she said.

The political turbulence following protests and the National Security Law has reshaped Hong Kong’s demographic landscape. Government data reveals a startling 60% increase in elderly living alone over the past decade, with over 188,000 seniors now in solitary households.

Local NGOs report that 80% of these “left-behind elderly” face severe social isolation, with seven in ten showing signs of depression. Community centres have stepped in to help, organising group activities like hotpot dinners.

“Having others around makes the holiday bearable,” said Mrs Lee, 73, who found comfort in these gatherings after her daughter’s departure. “We’re all learning to cope with this new normal.”

Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter

While the Lunar New Year is usually a time of celebration, in recent years it’s become the subject of bitter arguments online – over its English name.

The festival is celebrated by several ethnic communities across the world, where it is known as Chunjie (Chinese), Seollal (Korean) and Tet (Vietnamese), among other names. In English, it is commonly referred to as Lunar New Year, after the lunisolar calendar that many of these communities traditionally follow.

But there’s been an online campaign to call it Chinese New Year, led by some Chinese. They argue that the festival, and many of its traditions, originate from China and calling it something else disrespects its cultural roots. “The [erasure] of ‘Chinese’ from the festival’s name diminishes its cultural significance,” wrote one campaigner, external on Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.

In turn, others have argued that Chinese New Year is not a neutral term and would be disrespectful to Koreans, Vietnamese, and other communities that celebrate the festival.

Both sides accuse each other of “cultural appropriation”. It’s a fight that will likely see no happy resolution for now.

Chinese communities see an abundance of red during Lunar New Year as the colour symbolises good fortune and joy in their culture.

Hanging red banners and donning red clothing is believed to be a way of warding off nian, an underwater man-eating monster in Chinese mythology, who rears its head at the turn of the year. Folklore has it that nian attacked all homes in a Chinese village, except one that had red decorations on its exterior.

In South Korea, the colour white represents purity and a clean start to the new year. While the Chinese elders hand out money in red envelopes, many South Koreans use white envelopes.

Stephen McDonell
China correspondent

Some might think it difficult to make a snake look cute but, whether it be stuffed toys, little statues or posters going up on walls – grinning, even cheeky looking serpents are appearing all round China.

Snakes are being portrayed as docile and chill or just straight up hilarious.

I’ve not seen attempts to make them fearless or frightening in the way these cold-blooded animals sometimes appear in popular culture around the world.

Instead, these are party snakes, easing everyone into the new year with a kind of happy-go-lucky everything-is-going-to-be-alright aura.

So, slide into the snake vibe and have a sssensational year, especially if you’re one of them being born in 2013, 2001, 1989, 1977, 1965, 1953, 1941 or 1929.

Days before Tet – the Vietnamese Lunar New Year – families will gather for the time-honoured tradition of making glutinous rice cakes, an affair that often lasts through the night.

These wrapped cakes, known as banh chung, are stuffed with sticky rice, beans and pork belly, and must be boiled for 12 hours over a wood fire before they are ready to eat.

The delicacy is enjoyed by the living and the dead – placed on altars as an offering to ancestors – during the week long Tet holiday in Vietnam.

Happy Lunar New Year to those are celebrating! And to those who are just joining us in the UK, good morning!

Together with our teams across Asia, we have been watching Lunar New Year celebrations across the continent.

Here is what you need to know

• Millions across Asia and the world are welcoming the Year of the Snake with family, friends, prayers and plenty of food
• Colourful scenes are playing out – dragon dances, offerings of prayers and incense sticks and revelers in their best red shirts and dresses
• It’s a public holiday for many who celebrate it and ahead of the festivities, many have travelled back to their hometowns to reunite with family. In China alone, nine billion trips are expected to be made
• Do you want to know how to greet someone a Happy New Year? Here is how it is said in different languages

Lunar New Year is always a busy travelling season for those who celebrate.An estimated 9 billion domestic trips will be made across China this year – in what will be the world’s biggest annual mass migration.

The 40-day travel period, known as Chunyun, is typically the one time a year many in China get to travel home to see their family. Even though Chinese New Year only begins on 29 January, many leave for their hometowns as early as 14 January, hoping to avoid the paralysing traffic jams and chaos that inevitably springs up each year closer to the date.

This year, car journeys are expected to make up some 80% of all trips, followed by train and air travel.

Last year’s Chunyun period saw some 8.4 billion domestic trips made across the country.

In South Korea, over two million passengers are expected to pass through the country’s airports over a nine-day holiday period, which is longer than the usual three days.

While in the past people would return to their hometowns for family gatherings, more South Koreans are now opting for overseas adventures.

However the surge in outbound travel is concerning for local businesses hoping for a holiday spending boost. Domestic consumption is likely to drop, and there are concerns that this may deepen the country’s tourism deficit.

Additional reporting from Hyunjung Kim in Seoul

Ahead of the holiday, a panda sanctuary in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan held a special event where dozens of panda cubs made their first public appearance.

The cubs, all born in 2024, were seen playing among New Year decorations – though it seems some of them haven’t quite mastered the skill of balancing yet.

Here is how Thailand’s capital is celebrating the Lunar New Year.

Images by BBC’s Natalie Thomas and Benjamin Begley.

Hyunjung Kim
BBC Korean

In South Korea, the Lunar New Year holiday is not just a time for family gatherings. It’s also a political battlefield.

Leaders from both the ruling and opposition parties usually visit major train stations and express bus terminals ahead of the holiday to greet voters who are travelling home.

Traditionally, these holiday meet-and-greets have been a golden opportunity for political parties to connect with many citizens in a single bustling location.

But this Lunar New Year, there is more tension than usual.

With suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol facing impeachment over his declaration of martial law, the country has been in political chaos over the last two months. This has driven not only the two major parties but also smaller parliamentary parties to roll up their sleeves and hit the streets, hoping to sway public sentiment in their favour.

For politicians, this holiday season is more than just a PR opportunity; it’s a crucial opportunity to court the support of an electorate that could soon be heading to the polls.

Earlier, we shared the story of how the Chinese zodiac was created when the Jade Emperor invited all the animals to a race across a river on his birthday.

Legend has it that the Cat too was one of the contenders. But it dropped out of the race after getting tricked by the Rat. There are different tales as to how this deceit unfolded.

In one of them, the Rat and Cat were both riding the Ox, when the competitive rodent pushed the Cat into the river, leaving it struggling for survival.

In another version, the Cat was said to have overslept and missed out on the race.

Thus, the legend goes, began the enmity between cats and rats – and it’s the reason why the cat is not in the Chinese zodiac.

However, the cat’s legacy lives on in Vietnamese culture – it replaces the rabbit in their zodiac.

Virma Simonette
Reporting from Manila

On the eve of Lunar New Year, 19-year-old Aragon Lor feasted on shrimp and noodles with his family in Manila’s Chinatown, regarded as the world’s oldest.

It’s a double celebration as the Lor family is celebrating his win in a local Mr Chinatown Global male pageant. Chinoy refers to someone in the Philippines with Filipino and Chinese heritage.

“I want to preserve the Chinese culture within our family and extended families where we enjoy get-togethers, family dinners, and the Hokkien language for the generations after us,” Lor told the BBC.

He said his family may be “Chinese by blood” but they are definitely “Filipinos at heart.”

His father, Alfred, told the BBC, “The blessings are doubled this year. We are very happy. We are very proud of Aragon.”

After dinner, the Lor family, all wearing red, walked down Ongpin Street, Manila Chinatown’s famed strip of restaurants.

Suranjana Tewari
Asia business reporter

The Lunar New Year usually gives a boost to local businesses like shops, cinemas and restaurants in China, as families return to their hometowns and enjoy time together – eating and shopping.

This year, authorities are particularly keen for people to open their wallets. Officials say they’ve made a lot of effort by promoting winter-themed holiday destinations, and making sure airfares are affordable.

The government has been trying to boost the economy since late last year with a raft of stimulus measures, including interest rate cuts, raising pensions and trade in schemes for household goods.

Latest data shows that people are continuing to tighten their belts, in the face of a prolonged property slump and concerns about job security.

One bright spot is movie sales, with advance film ticket sales exceeding $55.24 million, according to ticketing platform Maoyan – the fastest-ever pre-sales for the Lunar New Year season.

The film Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants starring actor and singer Xiao Zhan has been driving much of the demand.

Giving a red packet containing cash is one of the most common ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Chinese culture. Usually it’s given by an older family member, or as a token of appreciation to employees and service workers.

In recent years this practice has gone virtual especially in China, where many people give red packets using WeChat, the country’s most widely used social and payment app.

This year the Chinese Communist Party has warned its cadres not to accept or give WeChat red packets of any electronic gift certificates, as it could “cross the red line”.

It’s not the first time the party has sounded the alarm on this practice: in 2023, the party’s anti-corruption department, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said that receiving bribes was “becoming increasingly covert” with some using electronic red packets as an “invisibility cloak for gift cards”.

Jean Mackenzie
Seoul correspondent

Compared to South Korea, Lunar New Year is not one of North Korea’s main holidays. The birth anniversaries of its two later leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, and its foundation days, take centre stage.

In fact, the country’s founder Kim Il Sung encouraged people to celebrate New Years Day on January 1, meaning that after the Korean War, Lunar New Year festivities disappeared from this part of the peninsula. This changed in 2003, when Kim Jong Il designated it a public holiday as part of an ideological drive to promote Korea-First traditions.

Today North Koreans spend the holiday enjoying some of the same games and food as South Koreans, including rice cake soup, board games and kite flying – but not before showing their loyalty to the Kim family.

They are expected to start the day laying flowers at statues and portraits of the former leaders. Those in the capital Pyongyang visit the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun where the embalmed bodies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are enshrined.

And unlike in China and South Korea, citizens do not travel en mass across the county to see family, as they are not allowed to move around freely. Instead, many celebrate quietly at home.

Virma Simonette
Reporting from Manila

In what is regarded as the world’s oldest Chinatown, revelers gathered last night to welcome the Lunar New Year with fireworks.

Manila’s Chinatown was established by Spanish colonizers in the late 1500s as a permanent settlement for Chinese traders who had converted to Catholicism. For centuries since then, the riverside district has become a melting pot of Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino cultures.

During the Lunar New Year, it is not uncommon to see Filipinos attending mass at a Catholic church in Chinatown before shopping for good luck charms and feasting on dumplings, noodles, and mooncakes.

Stephen McDonell
China correspondent

If this is your year congratulations! Well errr… not really.

According to Chinese tradition, when your turn comes around – every 12 years – this is a time of potentially bad luck.

You see, you have offended the God of Age, Tai Sui.

The way to get around all the misfortune which could potentially come your way is to wear something red everyday (red socks, red underpants, a red t-shirt etc) to scare away the evil spirits.

So, pay attention if you were born in 2013, 2001, 1989, 1977, 1965, 1953, 1941 or 1929.

The way many people in China achieve this evil-amelioration is to wear a red wristband during their year, often with a little image of their zodiac sign, in this case a snake.

Even for those who don’t really believe in such superstitions this is seen as a fun thing to do and a big part of Chinese traditional culture, whether it be here or in the many Chinese communities around the world.

David Oh
BBC Korean

For many children, Seollal, or Lunar New Year’s Day, is all about two exciting traditions: wearing their traditional wear – hanbok – and receiving sabaetdon (New Year’s cash).

Seollal, one of Korea’s most significant holidays, brings families together to celebrate. Children dressed in hanbok kneel and perform a deep bow, known as Sabae, to their elders. In return, the elders offer words of wisdom and small cash gifts.

During my childhood, receiving 10,000 KRW (about $7) was thrilling. Nowadays, the average sabaetdon, saebae money, has increased to 50,000 KRW (around $40).

Today, the tradition continues. My children are just as eager for Seollal as I was – whether it’s for the hanbok or the sabaetdon. It’s a joy to see this cherished tradition passed down through generations.

In Singapore and Malaysia, it is not uncommon to see people gathered around a huge plate of what appears to be a messy salad, made up of various ingredients, including shredded vegetables and raw fish.

It’s a tradition called lohei and is believed to bring good luck.

The dish is made up of different ingredients that are deemed auspicious. Fish for example, is a main ingredient in the dish – with the word for fish sounding like the word for abundance.

The dish is meant to be mixed together by tossing it high in the air – the idea is, the higher you toss the salad, the more luck you will attract.