Chinese New Year consists of three parts: preparations, a New Year celebration, and a lantern festival.

Preparations include cleaning the home of bad luck, decorating with red banners, and getting performances ready. Homes are embellished with red decorations and a banner donning poems is placed on doors.

The Spring Festival, or the New Year celebration, is spent with family while eating a special dinner. Yi Wang (‘21) shared, “After the dinner, we talk to our grandparents and they give us a red envelope with money inside.” She also stays up until the New Year watching the celebrations in China on television. New Year’s Day is spent greeting neighbors and lighting firecrackers.

After some more preparations, the Lantern Festival takes place on February 19th and everyone goes out to the streets to celebrate. The night is spent eating traditional foods, dancing, and, of course, lighting lanterns.

2019 is the year of the pig. In Chinese culture, pigs represent wealth, and those with that zodiac sign have good fortune in life. Wang explained that during the year of your sign you wear red throughout the year. At the age of 12, she remembers wearing red socks every day.

In Seattle, there is a parade that takes place on February 9th from 11am to 4pm at the Hing Hay Park in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. The Wing Luke Museum also holds festive activities for the public on February 2nd from 10am to 5pm.