Lunar New Year

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a “real” Chinese New Year. This span of time usually occurs around my birthday and in a period where I cannot take time off from school to go back to China. All of my extended family and friends live in China and they have many grand parties and celebrations for the coming of the new zodiac year. There’s a lot of food, games, and you can never get too many red packets. Although there is a Chinese New Year party held in my town, it isn’t the same as celebrating in China. This year’s spring festival was cut short by the emergence of the virus, with most of China under lockdown, citizens were advised to stay at home. I think spectators around the world tend to forget that the Chinese did not intend for a virus, nor the fact that it’s the lives of their families that are mainly being lost in the middle of a season of festivity. I’ve seen news of xenophobia and prejudices against people of Asian descent in America, the UK, and other areas in reaction to the Coronavirus but I did not expect that it would happen to me. A close friend had “jokingly” commented on how they got the Coronavirus from me but they apparently did not feel how insensitive their comments were. This is not the time for childish targeting, it’s time to grow up and face the issue seriously and as a collective.

Tết— Lunar New Year— is the only holiday I consider to be something my family celebrates. Not only do we not celebrate Western holidays; we ignore every other Asian tradition. If there is ever a holiday coming up, I would never set my expectations too high. My family wouldn't change for anything and it would be pure luck for peace on a Sunday not to mention a celebration. Even though it's never peaceful, and we don't even celebrate with food, I enjoy this holiday because even at our worst years, my parents make a big deal about lì xì—lucky money— and at minimum I gain $5 for doing nothing! It certainly is nice to be rewarded just for the fact I'm an unmarried young child! I have not met many other relatives to celebrate Tết with. It's only been my immediate family. For us, it's business as usual, but I pray for the good health and well being of those suffering. This securing of transportation surely proves inconvenient but I would be at peace knowing I won't harm my family. If i were kept from my family members I'm sure I'd be sad, but it's the family and friends surrounding us that we should not neglect. Besides, for many in China there will still be a bountiful amount of new years. When there isn't much to look forward to, at least I have seen the positives on these three days of Tết. While the New Year is symbolic of a new beginning, my family doesn't buy into resolutions. We all can only achieve real change with time and circumstance, not impulse and checklists.

While I don’t personally celebrate Lunar New Year, I have partially celebrated it before. When I lived in a different state, my family and I would go every Christmas to eat at a Chinese restaurant as our tradition. It was a family-owned business and we were friends with the family, so they would gift us with a Chinese New Year calendar that showed the animal of the year, and a signature red envelope (of course). It was special because we were choosing to share our holidays with them and they in turn, did the same for us. I’m saddened to hear that celebrations in China are being tampered with because of the coronavirus. Having recently learned about it, I can’t imagine what would happen if a plague outbreak occurred in America during our Winter Break. It’s important to not ignore the issue because the same could have happened to us. Looking at the pictures presented, I’m shocked to see only a very scarce amount of people walking along normally packed streets. That’s insane considering the city of Wuhan has 11 MILLION people in it. There were still a few groups of people practicing Lunar New Year, but almost every single person in the pictures was wearing a surgical mask. Even in larger cities like Beijing, with double the population of Wuhan, there’s much fewer people out than there should be. Hong Kong even cancelled their New Year’s celebrations. I hope that the spreading is contained and everyone infected gets the help they need to recover.

To my family, Lunar New Year is among the most important holidays we celebrate. Both my parents were born in Vietnam and moved to the United States at a young age but that never stop their families from celebrating Tét (Lunar New Year). For as long as I can remember, I have always spent Tét at my grandma's house. On this particular holiday, the energy in the house is through the roof. Before entering the house, you can hear my uncles singing their hearts out during karaoke. Walking through the front door, I was immediately greeted by the smell of a traditional Vietnamese dish, Pho. My grandmother is in the kitchen stirring what looks to be a pot the size of a bathtub. While my aunts have claimed their prep stations; washing and cutting various vegetables. This soup alone is what brings my family together. When everyone has arrived and finish eating, my aunts start to hand out red envelopes filled with money while we proceed to wish each other good health and good fortune for this upcoming year. We then pool a portion of our money to create a prize for games we play like bingo at a shot to win even more money. But to our family this holiday isn’t just a time to receive money, we use this time to also be thankful for our family. I look forward to this holiday every year because it is filled with great food and it’s a chance to celebrate my culture.

I do celebrate the lunar new year with my family. Since my brother and I were adopted and are the only Asians in the family, it is usually a small celebration. We usually get red envelopes and then go out for dinner to celebrate. I was sad to hear that many people were not able to see their families and celebrate as much this lunar new year. Although I was not affected by the coronavirus, I understand what it feels like to not be able to celebrate a holiday with family. Every year, we celebrate Christmas Eve with my mom’s side of the family. This last year many of them moved so it was the first year that we did not get to celebrate with them. My sister also came home to visit, but had to leave on Christmas Eve, so it was also the first year that she was not home on Christmas. I was sad that I wasn’t able to celebrate Christmas with everyone, and I understand what was is like for the people that did not get to celebrate with their family this lunar new year.

Lunar New Year is something that I have celebrated with my family for as long as I can remember, although we refer to it as Chinese New Year at my house. With my mother being from Chinese descent, you can understand why this holiday is so important to my family. Every year, my sister and I get red packets (these are small red envelopes handed to children on Chinese New Year filled with money), and my mother and father make Chinese food while we celebrate the year passed, and the year to come. In case you didn't know, Chinese new year lasts 15 days. It started on January 25th, and will end on February 8th. Usually, my parents pick one Saturday night that falls within the range of dates, but this year, we don't exactly have that privileged. My father moved away from home this year to start his new job three hours away from my mom, my sister, and me. Usually he is able to come home on the weekend, but due to business trips/work events, he hasn't been able to come home since Chinese New Year started. For a little while, it looked like his schedule wasn't going to allow him to come home to celebrate. Celebrating a week late isn't a very big deal for us, but the fear of it getting pushed later grew as my dad's schedule got busier. Thankfully, my father was able to take next weekend off, and be home on February 8th, the last day of Chinese New Year. Though it isn't ideal to celebrate on the last day, I am thankful that I am getting to see my father and celebrate with my family.

I have celebrated the Lunar New Year with my mother’s side of the family for as long as I can remember, and I look forward to the time set aside in which I can spend more time with my relatives. My grandmother is actually from Vietnam, so I am quite familiar with the holiday. Each year my grandparents hand out red envelopes, while we gather to eat Vietnamese food together, and honor those whose year it is, regarding their animal zodiac, just for extra enjoyment. 2020 is the year of the rat, so my brother, who is a rat, was celebrated by being given a lei necklace and a personalized cake. This event and all of the traditions have always held a special place in my heart, which ultimately causes me to feel a deepened sadness for those who cannot fully celebrate due to the virus outbreak. I feel extremely lucky to still have the ability to see my relatives while others cannot, especially on such a special occasion.

I have never celebrated the Lunar New Year. However, I actually celebrated it this year. I went to China Town in Chicago and went to an authentic Chinese restaurant. I went with my mom and her best friend, who is half Chinese so she’s very familiar with the culture and holiday. We ordered dim sum which was fun to try all the different kinds of Chinese foods and to also learn about the Chinese culture. It was so interesting to be so immersed in a new culture on such a special day. I’m definitely hoping to do this again.

I still went out for movies without mask as long as I do not communicate with strangers in the cinema and shopping malls. The news on the reported cases are tourists from Wuhan, so since I do not have relatives and friends from China, there is no contact issues. However, I avoid places like Chinatown and Marina Sand Bay, Gardens by the Bay where most PRC tourists will go. Our family members still gathered together (total 3 times) at siblings' houses for lo hei and dinner. I even went for a big social gathering on 3rd day of CNY but I would not shake hands with anyone, just close my two palms together to wish them "Happy New Year". Avoid body contact. If we become paranoid, we cannot even go supermarket or food courts, you never know who are the virus carriers among the food handlers and cashiers. So just exercise extra hygiene practices and lead life as per normal.

I celebrated the lunar new year with my family by having a feast and a hot pot, about twice or more of what we would usually eat for dinner. I also received a multitude of red envelopes from extended family members. The coronavirus did not negatively impact or even impact anything at all during the day of our festivities and it took effect to change us after the day of our holiday. In the state of Pennsylvania where I live, the Wuhan/2019-novel coronavirus has not caused any major unrest until about a day or two ago.

My parents weren't around anymore and I have two reunion lunches and a dinner with my regular siblings including their children's families and a close former classmate's family. Currently although the confirmed number of Wuhan virus patients are still in the single digits, it's a Visit Malaysia 2020 year inviting foreign tourists so I go to large enclose air-conditioned places only when really necessary, wearing surgical masks. Similarly I avoid the cinemas even though a number of new year Chinese movies were released. The limited number of restaurants are crowded showing Malaysians are enjoying the festival, hence I can empathize with the people trapped in locked down cities and provinces in China.

I kind of celebrate the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year for me). What I mean is that because I don’t really have much of a family in Pennsylvania other than my parents and my aunt, uncle, and three cousins (who I don’t really contact), I don’t really have anyone to celebrate it with. Most of my family is either in Boston or in China. I do get red envelopes from my parents, but that’s it. Although the coronavirus doesn’t affect me as I am in the US, it does affect the rest of my family in China. No one in my family is in Wuhan, but the streets of where my family lives in China are blocked. No one is allowed to go outside to go shopping or go to their friend’s house. One of my relative is having their 70th birthday (when elders are having their 70th or 80th birthday in China, it is important) and now no relatives are allowed to visit. My aunt from Spain went to China just to celebrate the birthday, but now that can’t happen. So even though the disease doesn't affect me, it affects the rest of my family in China.

I do not celebrate the Lunar New Year (though it does sound very celebratory and fun). Even though I'm not familiar with the holiday, I imagine that the virus must have had huge impacts on the festivities in the Asian countries where the virus is circulating. It is a struggling period, and I'm sure it is very disappointing not to be able to celebrate one of the most important times of the year in all these countries. Even though none of my activities have been affected, I know people in my community that have limited their contact with people they know, afraid to catch the disease, thus preventing some of their activities this past weekend. None of my personal holiday celebrations or travels have ever been overshadowed by something outside of my control. I don’t know why, but I am thinking about how violence, like war, can also hinder someone’s holidays, like not being able to see someone you love or return to your home country.

I do celebrate the Lunar New Year. I celebrate it with a hot pot and feast with my family. But, the coronavirus prevents people from seeing their families or can't go anywhere with their family and those quarantined in the cities of Wuhan, Huanggang, Ezhou, and Chiba are completely stuck. This virus has ruined the holiday for many people as movies aren't released, festivals can't happen, and people can't travel. People have been helping, a movie has been released online for people to see and China is building a hospital to deal with the coronavirus. However, the spread is nonstop, it's in the US, other Asian countries, Australia, but affected China the most.

I don’t celebrate Lunar New Year and the whole holiday doesn’t really affect me but some of the holidays that I celebrate have been overshadowed by something outside of my control. For example, three years ago on Christmas eve, my brother got really sick and could not go with us and our family friends into center city like we always do. At the time it wasn’t that big of a deal until I started coughing that night. When I woke up on Christmas morning I felt really sick and I eventually threw up so there were two people sick within a day of Christmas. Then the next day when we were about to leave for my grandparents house, my dad got really sick so that Christmas was kind of overshadowed by all of us getting sick within a few days of each other. I guess this might be how it feels for people in these countries celebrating the Lunar New Year.

I do celebrate the Lunar New Year with my family. We make dumplings, receive red envelopes, etc. The Corona virus did affect our plans though, because my church decided to have a gathering for the New Year, but since a lot of people cancelled, our church didn’t want to take any chances with the virus, so they cancelled the event. Luckily the virus hasn’t spread to my neighborhood, but I’ve still been told to wash my hands, and try not to get sick. We had a lot of fun, but the virus has made us more cautious. It’s very unfortunate because lots of people want to go back to China to visit family, but they can’t because of the virus.

I don’t celebrate the Lunar New Year, but I have some friends who do. One time my friends, who live in New Hampshire, so we only see them once or twice a year, came down and visited me and my family in Philly. They came down to celebrate my dad’s birthday with us, and it was great! Except for the fact that on my dad’s birthday, everyone came down with some random sickness, except for my dad, who enjoyed his birthday cleaning up puke. This was great because it meant they had to stay for an extra day, but not so great because everyone was sick. But, in the end, the ice cream cake celebration cheered everyone up and was a great ending to a horrible story.

I do not celebrate the lunar new year but I sometimes go to the parades and other activities. I feel that the corona virus has unfortunate timing with the lunar new year festivities. I normally do not have anything overshadowing holidays, but for the last two years, most of my extended family get a stomach bug over the course of the winter holidays (for some reason, I am always the first one to get it). This is an inconvenience because my family is not able to get together with the whole family because some of us are sick.

I can't talk very much about my Lunar New Year experience because I don't celebrate it, but I can comment on the health issue of the coronavirus. I read the article, and it seems to be spreading relatively quickly if people in Asia, Europe, and North America are affected. It was pretty crazy that you could get infected even if you weren't in contact with any diseased person or the market, and I think it's important that we try to solve this problem through research. But that each infected person spreads to two others on average means that it is probably hard to research this virus. I do think it was a wise decision to close some Lunar New Year celebrations because that would definitely be a way that the virus would spread. I think we should all be cautious and take steps to try and prevent the coronavirus outbreak from becoming a health emergency.

My family has celebrated the Lunar New Year every year. We don’t do anything massive like having a family gathering, but we say our prayers and enjoy a delicious homemade meal. One of my favorite parts of the Lunar New Year is when the children get red envelopes filled with cash from adults. Although some people may celebrate the full 15 days, my family typically celebrates the eve, the day of, and the day after the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Even though I am not ethnically Asian in any way my family still likes to celebrate the lunar new year. My family is friends with another family who’s Taiwanese and throws a big lunar new year party every year. Everyone comes dressed in red and homemade food is always on the menu. One of the coolest parts of the party is the hot pot which is heated over a fire with broth in it, once it’s hot enough you can cook thin pieces of meat in it and it will be done in 30 seconds. It’s always nice to get together and join something that we might have not known otherwise. Every year it’s such a cool experience to be a part of this celebration that has been around for years and years.

I do celebrate lunar new year, it didn't stop my family from celebrating because we celebrate in United States. but there are still some cases confirmed since the virus has spread oversea and now Europe. but these cases are nowhere near where i live. But i still need to be carefully especially in an area full of people. my family said that if we just still clean, like washing your hand, we won't get affected. for Lunar new year we have a family gatherings includes friends and relatives. one of our tradition us red envelope, the adult will give out red envelope and us children received them. there will be food for sure, include fish, dumplings, chicken, pork, etc. In chinatown there will be fireworks and lion dances. for my culture lunar new year is not just one day but multiple day and end with lantern festival.