Christina Luk ‘21
Executive Editor
Lunar New Year, as the name suggests, celebrates the coming of a new year according to a lunar calendar. One hallmark of this type of holiday is that it falls on a different day of the Gregorian calendar each year.[1]
Although Lunar New Year is sometimes synonymously referred to as Chinese New Year, there are a number of other cultures that celebrate this holiday, including Korean, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Vietnamese cultures. This year, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese New Year fall on January 25, 2020, while Tibetan and Mongolian New Year will be February 24, 2020. For all of these cultures though, 2020 marks the Year of the Rat!
2020 is going to be these rats’ year. Photo courtesy HappyNewYear2020.
What’s the Year of the Rat? It’s one year in a repeating twelve-year cycle that organizes the Chinese calendar among others. The cycle starts with the Rat, who, legend has it, won the cosmic race to be first, and continues with Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Each animal is associated with a set of personality traits. (If you don’t know your zodiac animal, see the end of this article for a reference chart.)
But enough about when the New Year is, let’s talk about celebrations. The way I celebrate Chinese New Year is to eat everything my grandmother makes. It is a really good deal for me. At home, we’ll have dumplings, noodles, whole steamed fish, and an assortment of round foodstuffs, like sticky rice cakes, because the word for “round” in Chinese is also the word for “together”—and that’s what the holiday is about: being together with family. One could say that it is only by becoming truly rotund that I am celebrating the spirit of this great holiday.
After I’ve eaten myself into a state of plump “togetherness,” it’s time to extend well wishes of health and good fortune to my elders. In my family, the youngest generation takes turns going around the dinner table to wish each relative a happy new year, starting with the oldest relative. After each wish, the older relative rewards the well-wisher with a red envelope filled with New Year’s money. This exchange of good fortune enriches the giver and receiver for the year to come.
At this time of year, I have the tendency to get homesick. I worry there won’t be enough hands to help my grandmother roll out the dough for dumplings or enough mouths to eat them. I start to miss my family. But the great thing about traditions is that I can bring them to new places and share them with new people! So even though I haven’t been able to go home for the biggest holiday of the year, I get to be part of a set of new traditions here at the Law School.
Last year, APALSA handed out home-made bubble tea for the New Year, and we’re bringing the tradition back this year on Friday (1/24) in Hunton-Williams Hallway at 11am. In addition, I want to give a shout out to Student Affairs for arranging a Lion Dance in Caplin Pavilion on 1/28 at 5:15 P.M. I think it’s great that the Law School community is celebrating this holiday, though I want to note that Lunar New Year encompasses so much more than Chinese New Year. So, to all my fellows out there, I say, Happy Lunar New Year!
Years of the Rat: 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020
Years of the Ox: 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021
Years of the Tiger: 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022
Years of the Rabbit: 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023
Years of the Dragon: 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024
Years of the Snake: 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025
Years of the Horse: 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026
Years of the Sheep: 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027
Years of the Monkey: 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028
Years of the Rooster: 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029
Years of the Dog: 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030
Years of the Pig: 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031
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cl3eh@virginial.edu
[1] This means I have to Google it every year, unlike my grandmother who just seems to know…