How to Celebrate Lunar New Year

The Lunar New Year is the most important festival in the Chinese calendar, providing the chance to invite good fortune and prosperity in your life for the coming months. The celebrations are characterised by a range of beloved traditions and customs, making this a particularly special time of year.

What is Lunar New Year?

Celebrated in China and various other east and southeast Asian countries, Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is a 15-day celebration marking the beginning of the year based on the lunisolar calendar.

It is a time for family reunions, honouring ancestors and enjoying traditional activities and lucky foods that are intended to set you up for an auspicious year.

In 2026, the Spring Festival begins on February 17th, lasting until March 3rd, when the final day of the celebratory period is traditionally celebrated with the Lantern Festival.

According to the zodiac cycle, 2026 is the year of the fire horse, which can represent change, forward movement, energy and action, providing a hint of what the year ahead is set to bring.

The traditions around Chinese Lunar New Year festivities are all about welcoming in these qualities and general good fortune – plus having fun with family and friends.

If you want to celebrate the Spring Festival this year, here are some common Chinese traditions to enjoy. Many countries and regions will also have distinct local customs.

Decorate With Red & Gold

Red and gold symbolise luck, wealth and joy in Chinese culture, making them the go-to colour palette for the New Year, as well as other festivals. Many people will decorate their homes with red lanterns and wall hangings to invite positive energy in and ward evil away.

On New Year’s Eve, or the days before, many will also do a bit of spring cleaning to clear away the bad luck and make plenty of room to welcome in good fortune into the home for the coming year.

Bring luck, vibrancy and tradition to your home this year with our selection of Lunar New Year decorations, including wall hanging, blessings and lanterns.

Spring Couplets

Among the most common festival decorations are spring couplets – red paper banners that display black or gold calligraphy. The exact messages on the banner can vary, but they’ll relate to wishing for luck, joy, health, unity and peace for the year.

A spring couplet display will often include two horizontal banners hung on either side of a door, with a horizontal banner across the top to complete the blessing. An upside down ‘Fu’ character is included to signify that ‘fortune has arrived’.

This year, we’re offering free hand-written spring couplets to customers in our Nottingham stores! Here, you can find out more about traditional spring couplets and your chance to get a beautiful hand-written blessing.

Wear Red

Buying new clothes is another way to welcome in fresh, positive energy with new clothes symbolising new beginnings. As it represents luck, red is a popular colour to wear to really get into the festive spirit.

Give Red Pockets

Exchanging intricately-decorated red envelopes of money is another time-honoured tradition enjoyed during the New Year period, meant to bring prosperity, good luck and joy.

Traditionally given by married people and elders to children or other younger family members, the red pockets are intended to ward off evil spirits and transfer good fortune to the receiver.

Celebrate With Loved Ones

The festive time encourages unity and family togetherness, so celebrating with loved ones is important. While you might commune with family throughout the holiday, one particular traditional event is the reunion dinner, held on New Year’s Eve to kick off the festivities.

Multiple generations of the family, travelling from near and far, will come together to eat a meal with various auspicious foods and lots of dishes to symbolise abundance for the year ahead.

Enjoy Symbolic New Year Food

As with any celebration, food is a major part of the festival, particularly when it comes to eating symbolic foods. It’s traditional to eat a range of foods that signify things like family togetherness, wealth, longevity and prosperity.

Dumplings and spring rolls represent wealth as they are said to look like ingots and bars of gold, connecting them with money and prosperity. Whole fish and whole chickens also signify abundance and good luck, while longevity noodles represent a long and happy life.

Find out more in our guide to symbolic Chinese New Year foods.

Firecrackers & Fireworks Displays

Whether its extravagant public displays or setting off a few firecrackers in local neighbourhoods, fireworks are another classic part of the festivities activities. Not only do they sparkle and dazzle, but fireworks and firecrackers are said to scare away evil spirits. The loud displays can also be used to draw the attention of the God of Fortune on the 5th day of the celebrations.

The main fireworks events tend to take place on New Year’s Eve at midnight to help transition from the old year into the new with prosperity and joy.

Lion & Dragon Dance Performances

Some regions may also celebrate with energetic dragon or lion dances. These performances involve dancers directing colourful, elaborately decorated lion costumes or dragon puppets to the rhythm of traditional drums, symbols and gongs.

These impressive displays of acrobatics and artistry aim to dispel bad luck and evil spirits while ushering in a new year of prosperity. Here at Oriental Mart, we are hosting a traditional New Year Lion Dance in Nottingham to welcome in the new year in the best way – join us to make the most of the festivities!

If you’re celebrating this year, make sure to check out our range of Chinese Lunar New Year food, including traditional treats and other Lunar New Year essentials.