Best Lunar New Year celebrations around the world

精選世界各地農曆新年的慶祝活動

A short guide to the biggest Lunar New Year’s parties around the world.


KAOHSIUNG (Taiwan News) - If you are a part of a Taiwanese family, Lunar New Year is sure to be packed full of food, festivities, and fun.

But if you are not, it can be a little bit of an underwhelming holiday. While there are a few public Lunar New Year festivities and celebrations in Taiwan, it is overwhelmingly a private holiday in this country.

But that is not the case everywhere and is something Taiwan should look to change. In this article, we will give an insight into the best Lunar New Year celebrations around the world which Taiwan could use as inspiration:


New York, USA


In New York, Lunar New Year is marked in spectacular fashion in Sara D. Roosevelt Park with a huge firecracker ceremony and festival.

Here, New York’s Chinese and Taiwanese communities will set off no fewer than 600,000 firecrackers. This huge and extremely loud ceremony is intended to drive away any evil spirits ahead of the New Year.

Following the firecracker festival, revelers will join a parade featuring dragon dances and other festivities which winds its way through the streets to Chinatown, where much food and merriment will be enjoyed by all.


Shanghai, China


Of all the Lunar New Year celebrations in China, Shanghai’s is perhaps the biggest with millions of visitors heading to the city’s Yuyuan Gardens.

There, they will experience a fantastic lantern show with thousands of lanterns in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. You can see lanterns shaped as all different types of animals, mythical creatures, and more traditional designs too.

It is a jaw-dropping display and typically accompanied by entertainment and no shortage of traditional Lunar New Year foods on offer too.


Hanoi, Vietnam


In Vietnam, Lunar New Year is known as Tet and it is marked in the capital city, Hanoi, with a staggeringly enormous fireworks display.

The spectacular show takes place across the city’s skyline from Lac Long Quan Flower Garden to Van Quan Lake. It begins at midnight and lasts for at least fifteen minutes.

The best vantage point is Hoan Kiem Lake, where visitors flock in their thousands and are treated to various performances and street food before the main event at midnight.


Singapore


Singapore is a city-state that doesn’t do things by halves and their Lunar New Year street party, known as Chingay, is no exception.

The term Chingay means ‘the art of costume and masquerade’ and this carnival certainly lives up to that with hundreds of floats, costumed performances, dancers, and much more, winding their way through the streets of this cosmopolitan city.

Expect a wide range of live performances, theater, and music, as well as plenty of pyrotechnics, fireworks, and firecrackers too.

It is perhaps the biggest Lunar New Year parade in the world and certainly worth fighting your way to the front of the mammoth crowds for.


Vancouver, Canada


In Vancouver, the Lunar New Year is marked by a Spring festival parade which celebrates this city’s incredible multiculturalism.

It usually features around 3,000 participants representing the city’s many different communities. It will feature traditional Chinese and Taiwanese performances, martial arts, music, dance, and much more.

The parade always attracts big crowds as it follows the same path from Millennium Gate towards Chinatown as it has for almost 50 years.


Manchester, UK


Manchester is home to one of the biggest ex-pat Chinese communities in the UK, so it is no surprise that it is also home to the UK’s biggest and most spectacular Lunar New Year celebration too.

A wide range of Chinese and Taiwanese-inspired performers travel through the city center en-route to Chinatown. You can expect to see lion dances, Chinese opera, puppet performances, ribbon dances, and much, much more.

Manchester’s Chinatown is the UK’s biggest outside London and after the parade you can expect the party to go on long into the night, fuelled by the many bars and restaurants of the area.


Hong Kong


Despite all of Hong Kong’s troubles after its annexation by China, you can still expect Lunar New Year to be marked in style here.

The place to head to in Hong Kong is the city’s many huge shopping malls. Here the tradition is to pack the halls with cute animals, mascots, and incredibly complex and intricate displays.

Expect bright colors, excessive cuteness, and lots of photo-ops. This really is an Instagram heaven and young people from Hong Kong flock to malls ranging from Langham Place to Tuen Mun Town Plaza to get their selfie fix.


Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


The place to go to in KL to mark Lunar New Year is the huge Thean Hou Temple.

This is one of the oldest and biggest temples in the whole of Malaysia and over the Lunar New Year period, it is decorated with thousands of identical red lanterns.

It is a jaw-dropping sight, especially after dark when they are all lit up and send a stunning red glow over the entire temple.

Big crowds descend on the Temple every year and, as well as the lanterns, there are displays usually themed on the incoming animal of the year, as well as lots of food stalls and other entertainment.


Seoul, South Korea


Lunar New Year is known in South Korea as Seollal and, as in Taiwan, the tradition here is to head back to the family home for the festive period.

As a result, Seoul can seem quieter than usual. But there is still an incredibly fun Fortune Party, which is held each year in the city’s Korean Folk Village.

Here visitors have the chance to play traditional games, enjoy displays of folk art and a wide variety of music, dance, and theatrical performances.

Some of the most spectacular features include a display of horseback martial arts and ritual burnings (known in Korean as daljiptaeugi).

Needless to say, food is plentiful too, with the traditional rice cake soup (tteokguk) a real must-try dish.


Los Angeles, USA


LA has been marking Lunar New Year for well over 120 years now with its spectacular Golden Dragon Parade.

The Parade is a massive event which winds its way through the streets of the North Broadway area of the city. It brings huge floats, music, marching bands, dancing troupes, and huge crowds with it.

While the focus is on Lunar New Year, the parade also features celebrations of cultures and traditions not only from China, Taiwan, and East Asia, but from the entire cultural diaspora that makes up modern LA.

It is one of the biggest Lunar New Year parades anywhere in the world and the fact that it takes place in the USA, shows that there is much more that we could be doing to celebrate this key festival here in Taiwan.