January 24 – Feb 15
Following the lunar or Xia calendar, February 1st will usher in the year of the tiger! The period of celebration for Lunar New Year, often referred to as Chinese New Year in the United States and the Spring Festival in parts of Asia, takes place from January 24th through February 15th. The final event of the holiday is the Lantern Festival, or Yuanshao. Other east Asian cultures traditionally follow a lunar calendar and therefore celebrate a Lunar New Year, such as Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, and Korea.
Celebrating Lunar New Year looks like spending time with family and friends, eating a holiday meal, and preparing by creating good luck for the upcoming year. Auspicious activities include cleaning, lighting incense, and giving holiday money (hóng bāo) to children. Another popular celebration is the Dragon Dance, another way to bring good luck.
Looking for Digital Library Resources?
Ebooks
- Chinese New Year by Julie Murray
- Chinese New Year : A Celebration for Everyone by Jen Sookfong Lee
- Chinese New Year by Carrie Gleason
- Chinese New Year by Judith Jango-Cohen
- Chelsea’s Chinese New Year by Lisa Bullard
Journals
Databases
- Diversity Studies (Gale OneFile)
- Educator’s Reference Complete (Gale OneFile)
- Newspaper Source
- Teacher Reference Center
- Asian Studies collection from Ethnic NewsWatch
Tips for Browsing the Stacks
General topics like the history of China will be found in DS733-779.32. For Chinese language and literature, look through PL1001-3208.
Resources about Chinese Americans will be included in E184-185.98, the classification of ethnic groups in the United States. As San Francisco, CA is one of the largest metropolitan homes of Chinese-Americans, some resources about Chinese New Year and Chinese Americans are included in F856-870 for California. Another call number range to browse is HV4005-4013 for immigrants.
Titles specific to Chinese New Year can be found GT 4905 from GT3400-5090, which covers holidays.
Selections from the Children’s Section
- Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan’s Chinese New Year by Kate Waters
- Moy Moy by Leo Politi
- World Holidays: A Watts Guide for Children by Heather Moehn
- Fun with Chinese Festivals by Huoping Chen
In Need of Some Primary Sources?
- Explore American Reference Library for primary source documents from History Reference Center
- Watch the “Chinese New Year: the Biggest Celebration on Earth” series from the BBC and explore the Center for Asian-American Media collection from Academic Video Online
- Browse these archival photographs from Lunar New Year celebrations in Chicago
Current Resources
- Find out about the history of the holiday and traditions in addition to ways to celebrate from ChineseNewYear.net
- Explore resources about Lunar New Year from the National Museum of Asian Art
- Celebrate Lunar New Year in Philadelphia
- Learn about traditional crafts from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
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