With the Lunar New Year right around the corner, now’s the perfect time to up the good fortune-ante! Here are six ways you can welcome in the Year of the Tiger with your family and friends in 2022.
The Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays across the globe, with over 20% of the world celebrating the festival that signals the beginning of a new year!
The celebration traditionally last about two weeks, from Lunar New Year’s Eve to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the new lunar year. Customs and traditions vary widely but share the same theme – seeing out the year and welcoming in the luck and prosperity of a new year!
With the Lunar New Year right around the corner, now’s the perfect time to up the good fortune-ante, so here are six ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year with your family and friends in 2022.
Let's get cleaning
In preparation for the New Year, it’s traditional to clean the house. Just make sure you do so before 1 February, as any cleaning done on New Year’s Day washes away good luck. Cleaning will rid your house of any huiqi, or inauspicious breaths, collected over the year.
Pick up household items from Silly Solly’s to help you get organised.
Redecorate your home
After the cleaning is done, it’s time to spruce up your home with some good luck décor and one of the easiest ways to do this is through flowers! During the new year, Orchids represent abundance, peach blossoms stand for prosperity and growth, plum blossoms for endurance and courage, and peonies for richness and peace.
You will find fresh flowers at Coles, so the choice is all yours, just make sure to google the flower’s symbolism.
Kids' craft
For the little ones, hanging up Lunar New Year colouring-in is a fun way to get into the spirit, or they could their could try their hand at making origami fortune cookies, dragon puppets or drums. View a range of printable Lunar New Year craft here.
Catch up with family and friends
The Lunar New Year is time for family and friends to catch up, eat delicious food and enjoy quality time together. If you have friends or family members isolating, now’s the perfect time to send a text and organise a phone call or video chat.
If you are feeling adventurous you might want to rally the troops together and participate in your own virtual cooking class, by following the expert dumpling masterclass from Masterchef’s and this easy to follow dumpling recipe. The best thing about dumplings is that even if they are rolled incorrectly, they still taste mighty delicious!
Wear red
It is believed that wearing new clothes from head to toe during the festival symbolises a new start and fresh hopes for the New Year, which is something we can get on board with! Generally wearing red or other brightly-colored clothes pair well with the festive and upbeat mood of the New Year celebrations.
Red symbolises good luck, happiness, vitality, and a long life, so popping on your favourite red clothing item will help you set the mood for your year ahead.
Enjoy lucky foods
What better way to up your luck than through food! There’s lots of delicious delights which are considered lucky, whether it’s because of their names, appearance or the way in which they are prepared. The most common foods include dumplings, fish, spring rolls and noodles and here is why.
The Chinese word for fish, yu, also sounds like the word for abundance; tangerine sounds like luck while orange sounds like wealth. Long noodles symbolise a long life while dumplings are made to resemble gold or silver ingots, a unit of currency in ancient China. And the most important… sweets signify a sweet year ahead!
We suggesting browsing Coles recipes or taste.com.au to find your favourite Lunar New Year inspired dishes and then picking up all your ingredients at Coles and Liquorland.
If you want to find out more about the traditions of the Lunar New Year and the Year of The Tiger visit the Chinese New Year website here. However you plan to celebrate we wish you a prosperous 2022!
