What better time to wish for a happy year than the new year? The beginning of the new yearly calendar will leave you wanting some change and something to look forward to for the rest of the 365 days. It’s no question that the majority of the world follows the Gregorian calendar. So, it’s January 1st and the beginning of a new year, are you celebrating by yourself or do you like to surround yourself with a lively group of people?

For many years growing up, my family would watch live New Year’s Eve. performances on TV. We would watch until the ball drops in Times Square New York. For some people, partying in the company of one another until New Year’s Day is a big deal. While others might enjoy it on a relaxing couch watching Miley Cyrus belt out her vocals live on TV. A percentage of us probably won’t make it up past 10 PM. No matter how you celebrate it, the next second midnight hits, or a few days later, we are all wishing our friends and family a happy new year.

Did you know there is another New Year’s Day that is much more festive and popularly celebrated as well? For me, as a Chinese-American, and many other Asians including Vietnamese and Korean, celebrating Chinese New Year (CNY), or Lunar New Year (LNY) is more meaningful and enthralling than the New Year that we all know. Since being born and raised in the USA, I have always known this holiday as Chinese New Year. However, with more representation in the media and a growing population of Asians in America, it is more inclusively recognized as Lunar New Year (around the world too)!

(I will be using the terms CNY and LNY interchangeably in this blog post.)

Chinese New Year a.k.a. Lunar New Year is celebrated on the day according to the lunar calendar. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, and South Korea celebrate the lunar new year in addition to the solar new year. Korean New Year (설날 Seollal) is a time for reflection and celebrating the new year. Additionally, Korean New Year is typically observed in January. Most of the time it is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year. Some years could have a day of difference. It depends on how each country follows the lunar calendar. In some years, CNY could land in February.

Since I was living and working in South Korea for five years, I missed those years of spending family traditions with my family back home in America. I missed the visits to family and family dinners. I often wished to go home for the food. I was not personally handed a good luck red envelope (“hong bao”) either.

Even though I wasn’t celebrating CNY with my family, I was still celebrating it in Korea. For the first year of LNY in Korea, I went out for dinner with a friend. We decided to try a Japanese restaurant that served donburi. It was a delicious meal!

The next year, right when I started a new job, my boss gifted all the staff a box of Korean rice cakes. It was such a nice gift. My love language is food, so of course I enjoyed it!

The following year, right before the announcement of the world’s need to shut down and distance ourselves from each other, I was gifted a box of fish cakes for Seollal. I love the variety of fish cakes in the box. This lasted me for many meals. During LNY, many workers in South Korea and other Asian countries get vacation time. Therefore, with my one week off, I went to Singapore! You can read about how I celebrated CNY in Singapore here.

LNY of 2021, one of my student’s parents gifted me a variety box of tarts! They were very tasty. Compared to Portuguese egg tarts or Hong Kong-style egg tarts, these had thicker crusts. It was a unique difference.

For my last LNY in Korea, I was gifted a box of Korean walnut pastries (호두과자 hodoogwaja). Inside the round balls of cake are filled with a walnut and red bean paste. I love eating this as dessert after dinner. They are great mid-day snacks as well.

LNY 2022, I also spent the weekend with my friend. A lot of restaurants were closed or closed earlier than their usual hours so they could spend time with their family at home. We were craving Indian food and luckily we found a place that was able to deliver around late dinner time. Then for dessert, we found dark chocolate biscuits at a small local market that looked tempting. I also love anything dark chocolate. It was yummy.

When my friend and I have a sleepover on the weekend, our Sunday routine usually ends up with us ordering way too much food that we overstuff our stomachs. We love to eat Korean braised chicken (찜닭 jjimdak) with our favorite flavor, rosé, which is a mix of tomato sauce and cream sauce. It’s kind of inevitable to stop eating when we enjoy rosé jjimdak to a great extent.

The best appetizer or snack for adults on a holiday is a charcuterie board and wine. I would recommend sparkling juice if you don’t enjoy alcohol. I know charcuterie boards can also get expensive, but they don’t have to be. My friend and I put together a budget-friendly charcuterie board with crackers, fruits, cheese, and meats that you can find at a supermarket. It’s really up to you how you like your cracker sandwiches.

What is your favorite part about Lunar New Year? Even if you don’t celebrate LNY, what do you like about both the solar new year and LNY?

Sincerely,
Amy♡