Lunar New Year brings hope and connection, even amid pandemic
- Asian Americans are celebrating this Lunar New Year with a variety of traditions.
- Some are cooking dishes like Banh Chung, while others are dressing up their dogs as dragons.
Lunar New Year has always been a holiday about looking ahead and appreciating family and culture.
That ethos hasn't changed, even as many Asian Americans gear up to celebrate their second Lunar New Year during the pandemic.
"Tet [Vietnamese New Year] is a celebration of hope and renewal, and it symbolizes the opportunities we have ahead of us," Heidi Pham, whose family is from Vietnam, told Insider. "However, it also serves as an important reminder of who we are and where we came from."
She added that living in the US can make it "easy to stray away from traditional practices," including speaking her native language or cooking Vietnamese food, but Lunar New Year is about unapologetically embracing one's culture.
Pham joins millions of Asian Americans internationally in viewing Lunar New Year as an opportunity to reconnect with and commemorate her roots, whether by cooking family recipes or wearing traditional clothes.
Insider asked readers how they were planning on spending Lunar New Year, which begins on Feb. 1 and sets in motion weeks of festivities, as well as what they were most excited about this holiday.
Some are ringing in the Year of the Tiger by sticking to tried-and-true traditions, while others are creating new ones.
We've collected some of the best responses from Insider readers below. These responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Cooking Banh Chung with mom
"My mom and I spent the last week making banh chung together, a New Year activity that stems from our family's traditions in Vietnam in which they would spend days cooking banh chung for the entire village to celebrate the upcoming New Year. We will also be cooking all of my family's favorite dishes and look forward to sharing a special meal together that celebrates family, hope, and tradition. The adults hand out li xi to the younger children and we will end the night with traditional games like bau cua and bai tu sac [a dice and card game]" -Heidi Pham, 30, social worker
Performing Martial Arts in local festivals
"I will be performing martial arts, as well as walking in the fashion show, both while wearing an ao dai [a Vietnamese national garment] at the Tet in Boston festival, which will be hosted at the Flynn Cruiseport. Due to the age of my parents, however, they will be supporting me via a livestream of the event." -Natalie Nguyen, 21, college student
Giving red envelopes to younger family members
"The red envelopes are given to the younger family members that are unmarried from the elders in hopes that everyone gets rich! Mom and Dad usually give a large bill, with a single dollar bill, with a quarter and a penny.
The tradition of washing your hair before midnight is to wash away the bad spirits, and you do not wash your hair on Lunar New year day to 'become rich'" -Cindy Yee, 42, administrative assistant
Being physically together after extended time apart
"The gatherings may not be as large as usual, but we'll make it work! This time, it's something we look forward to even more after last year's celebrations were limited. We're expecting a bit more normalcy in how [we] cherish this time together." -Deblyn Wu, 25, sales manager
Introducing other people to their culture
"Spending time with family and eating traditional Chinese food and decorating the house with Lunar New Year decorations," are some of Angela Chen's favorite holiday traditions. She also enjoys "dressing up our family dog in a dragon suit" and "making wontons and BBQ."
Her mother's fiancé is white, so her family's celebration is "a blended cultural experience." -Angela Chen, 26, account executive
Readers share their favorite part of the holiday
"We FaceTime our relatives in Taiwan and we plan to eat around the same time in different time zones" -Angela Chen, 26, account executive
"My favorite part about Lunar New Year is the chance to fully embrace my Asian heritage and culture alongside friends and family. Being in California, we're fortunate to have a big Asian community and access to many Asian businesses and cultural landmarks. It's our culture that runs deep, bringing us together and profoundly impacting our lives. Lunar New Year is a beautiful celebration of that." --Deblyn Wu
"We always plan a trip to the market and pick up all of the goodies that we need to make the traditional roast pork, long noodles, bean curd, and chicken. We exchange gifts and enjoy the night with stories. We also burn items made of joss paper to send to the loved ones that have passed." -Cindy Yee
"Honestly there's so many but 1) Getting to see all of the aesthetics and decorations 2) Wearing very beautiful traditional attire, such as an ao dai and 3) witnessing the community uniting together to celebrate this meaningful holiday." - Natalie Nguyen