Many people around the world assume that there is only one New Year that falls on Jan 1st every year. But in reality, many people with different cultures celebrate their New Year that doesn’t fall on Jan 1st. For example, Lunar New Year that celebrated by Vietnam, China, Korea falling on different date according to their calendar. In addition, Choul Chnam Thmey New Year is celebrated by Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, several parts of Bangladesh and India.
Today, Western Calendar is widely accepted as official calendar in every country around the World. Beside that, many countries with different cultures still use their calendars to calculate their traditional holidays. For example, Buddhist Calendar is used to calculate The Choul Chnam Thmey New Year that often falling on April 13rd every year and celebrated by many major Buddhist countries. in South and South East Asia.
Lunar New Year is observed by Vietnam, China, Korea that often falls on different date every year based on Lunar Calendar. In Lunar New Year, people in those countries often return to their parents’ homes to burn incenses to show gratitude to their ancestors. The Lunar New Year is a day for family reunion where children, spouses that work or live far away from their immediate relatives. Before 1995 in Vietnam, people used to set firecrackers in front of their homes to wish happiness and luck go along with them in the whole year. Many serious injuries or deaths caused by illegal firecrackers that made by gun or grenade powers( after Vietnam War, there were a lot of bullets and grenades that people often illegal collected and dismantled them to get powders to make firecrackers). Now in Vietnam, the sound of firecrackers in Lunar New Year became history. China banned firecrackers few years earlier than Vietnam, but It began to revive the fire cracker ban since 2003 and allowed some special places to use firecrackers in Lunar New Year.
Red envelop with money inside, is given by parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts to children with the wishes for children studying good in school, healthiness. The adult children give red envelops to their parents wishing them healthy and longevity. In China and many countries, people often played small gamble for fun in the first three days of Lunar New Years. Unfortunately, many families would fall into heavy debts because they bet a lot of their gamble that supposed to be small and fun. When fun is out of control, the consequence is every one known.
Religion also influenced in Tet festival in Vietnam, people often go to churches or temples in the Lunar New Year to pray to their Gods for their wishes. Employees or workers in Vietnam often have a week off and received bonus that often equals to a month salary. Tet also is a catalyst for economic growth because people spend a lot. For example, the companies renovate their businesses, people renovate or decorate their homes, people go to shopping for foods, beverages, new clothes or personal stuff. Many non-service companies are afraid when Tet approaches because they have to pay their debts, bonus for employees, renovation expenses and a week off without revenues. A handful companies will never open again after Tet because their bosses go hiding for the reason: many rearrange payment miss.
Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean oversea often celebrate the Lunar New Year in their communities with the purpose to keep their tradition alive. Many others often go back to their native countries in few weeks to visit their relatives when air ticket was so cheap before Covid-19 pandemic. Lunar New Year is also an occasion for people return to their communities to taste their traditional foods, meet old friends and recall their best memories. I hope this article help you to understand other cultures in globalization today.