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Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or Chinese Spring Festival holds the most importance among all Chinese festivals and holidays. It usually lasts fifteen days within the Chinese lunar calendar which falls sometime between January 21 and February 21, varying each year.

Celebrations for this season include decorations, parades, folk traditions, and huge feasts. If you want to join in the festivities, there are many things you can do to pay homage to Chinese traditions. Here's how some countries celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Vietnamese - Tết

Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết, their local version of the Lunar New Year, by cooking holiday food and cleaning the house. These dishes include bánh tét, bánh chưng, bánh dày, canh khổ qua, thịt kho hột vịt, dried young bamboo soup (canh măng), giò, and sticky rice.

Many customs are practiced during Tết, such as visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year (xông nhà), ancestor worship, giving New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop.

Tết is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. They start forgetting about the bad fortune of the past year and wish for a better year ahead. They consider Tết to be the first day of spring, and the festival is often called Hội xuân (spring festival).

Korean - Seollal

Seollal is considered a major holiday season for Koreans and the celebration usually lasts for three days. During this period, most shops and restaurants are closed while major palaces, museums, and amusement parks are open.

Various traditional events and cultural performances will be held. Koreans usually dress up in their traditional dress called hanbok during Seollal. On the early morning of the official day of Seollal, families gather and start an ancestral rite and prepare for 'charye,' where family members prepare ritual food set on a table, where the members of the family bow in commemoration of the spirits of their ancestors.

Chinese - Chūn Jié

Chūn Jié means spring festival in Mandarin Chinese. It is one of the most important holidays for Chinese people all over the world. This marks the beginning of spring and symbolizes the desire for a new life. The main Chinese New Year activities include putting up decorations, reunion dinner with the family, having fireworks displays, giving red envelopes (tao hongbao) with money, and watching traditional performances. Red is the main color for the festival as it is believed to be an auspicious color. Red Chinese lanterns hang in streets, and images of prosperity are scattered in the streets.

Indonesian - Imlek

Indonesia's Imlek is a one-day national holiday where dragon or lion dances are common at shopping centers. Doors and windows are opened on the day before the New Year to let the previous year's misfortune out. Red envelopes are also handed out on the morning of New Year's Day and families take special trips to Indonesia's Chinese temples. It's also common to leave food at the table for deceased family members. Chicken is eaten with the head, tail, and feet still intact to represent completeness while tofu is avoided as it represents bad luck during this season.

Philippines - Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is a national holiday in the country where the Chinatown, Binondo is the main area for festivities such as dragon dances and performances. People also try to pay back debts before the holiday to represent a clean slate for the coming year and prosperity. Red envelopes are also given and sticky rice cake or nian gao is eaten for good luck.

There are many different ways to celebrate the Year of the Rat, but keeping a positive mind and sticking to one's personal goals are some of the best ways to start the year right.