The Lunar New Year: A Time-Honored Celebration of Renewal and Hope
This week, families around the world prepare for one of the most cherished and widely celebrated festivals of traditional culture—the Lunar New Year. For millennia, this holiday has marked not merely the turning of the calendar, but a profound moment of renewal, gratitude, and reunion.
Guided by the lunisolar calendar, the Chinese New Year arrives with the second new moon after the winter solstice, usually between late January and mid-February. It opens fifteen days of celebration, culminating in the Lantern Festival, a radiant farewell to (hopefully) the harshest days of winter and a joyful welcome to the year ahead.
At its heart, the holiday reflects a worldview deeply rooted in harmony between heaven, earth, and humankind—a theme that has shaped Chinese civilization for millennia.
Shen Yun Celebrates on the Road
During the Chinese New Year, Shen Yun’s artists aren’t gathered in one place celebrating together—instead, they’re bringing joy to audiences across the globe. With eight equally sized touring companies performing simultaneously, Shen Yun’s performers will be taking the stage this week in Victoria (TX), Augusta (GA), and Fort Lauderdale (FL) in the United States, and Rome (Italy), Stoke-on-Trent (England), Nantes (France), Lausanne (Switzerland), and Daegu (South Korea).
But even on tour, each troupe will typically have its own party, replete with dumpling-folding challenges, games, and ridiculous amounts of good food.
Performers also prepare often-whimsical videos in celebration that are played back at headquarters in New York for those who stayed back on campus, as well as on the buses of the other troupes on tour. It’s a nice opportunity to see what your friends have been up to around the world.
But let’s take a look at the more traditional way the Chinese New Year has been celebrated for generations—perhaps you would like to join in on the fun this year.
Sweeping Away the Old, Inviting the New
Preparations begin well before New Year’s Day. Homes are thoroughly cleaned, symbolically sweeping away misfortune and making space for blessings to enter. Soon afterward, vibrant decorations appear: lanterns glowing softly, paper cuttings adorning windows, and poetic couplets framing doorways.
Equally important is the renewal of human relationships. Families reconcile differences and express gratitude, reminding us that prosperity begins with harmony in the heart.
The Reunion Dinner: A Table Filled with Blessings
On New Year’s Eve, loved ones travel great distances to gather for the reunion dinner, the most meaningful meal of the year. Each dish is rich with symbolism, expressing hopes for the future: Fish for abundance year after year; dumplings shaped like ancient gold ingots for wealth; noodles for a long and healthy life; and sweet rice cakes for rising achievement (these are called nian gao in Chinese, which can also mean “higher year after year”).
Sharing this feast is not simply a culinary tradition, it’s an affirmation of unity, continuity, and mutual care across generations.
Festivities that Illuminate the Night
As midnight approaches, fireworks and firecrackers burst into life, their thunderous echoes believed to dispel evil and usher in auspicious energy. In the days that follow, communities come alive with dances, fairs, visits among relatives, and heartfelt greetings exchanged with neighbors and friends.
The celebrations conclude with the Lantern Festival, when countless glowing lanterns illuminate streets and skies. Their gentle light symbolizes wisdom, hope, and the bright path forward into spring. In fact, Shen Yun had a dance about this holiday, aptly called Lantern Joy.
The Year of the Horse: Strength, Freedom, and Noble Spirit
Each Lunar New Year also ushers in a new animal in the twelve-year zodiac cycle. This is the Year of the Horse, a sign long admired in Chinese tradition for its vigor, loyalty, and indomitable spirit.
The horse symbolizes speed, endurance, and the courage to journey great distances. It evokes images of heroes riding forth to accomplish great deeds and messengers delivering good news with swiftness. A horse year is therefore often associated with progress, opportunity, and forward momentum—a time to pursue worthy goals with confidence and determination.
This cycle is further imbued with the dynamic qualities of fire, suggesting heightened energy and transformative potential.
A Festival That Transcends Time
Beyond the festive customs lies a deeper message. The Lunar New Year invites reflection on what truly endures: family bonds, moral values, gratitude for blessings received, and hope for a brighter future. It’s a moment to leave behind resentment, to renew aspirations, and to step forward with clarity and purpose.
While times may, and are, changing, these ancient traditions offer a reassuring continuity—a reminder that the fundamental principles of kindness, perseverance, and harmony remain constant.
The Year of the Horse arrives with a call to move forward bravely, guided by wisdom and uplifted by hope.
From all of us in Shen Yun, may the new year bring you peace, health, and abundant blessings.
