Celebrating Chinese New Year: Teaching Kids About Lunar New Year & Family Traditions

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On Wednesday, January 29th, my mind drifted back to my childhood and the customs I was raised with. As each new year began, I used to think about whether I had done a good job of sharing the significant traditions with my own children, who, like me, are American-born Chinese.

Now that my kids are older, I'm even more aware of how much the little things my parents taught me as a mom have made a difference. I remember my college-age kids understanding the reasoning behind me being equipped with our handheld vacuum a few days before the new year starts. Cleaning the house is a tradition that symbolizes driving away bad luck from the previous year. My daughter has picked up on this habit too, knowing that cleaning her dorm room before the new year begins can help sweep away any good luck that could follow.

to celebrate the day with her friends.

Gift boxes filled with traditional Lunar New Year goods are displayed at Kee Wah Bakery in Los Angeles.

If you’re looking to celebrate Chinese New Year at home, here are some traditions I grew up with that are easy to do with your family to commemorate a new year.

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Growing up in California, people often started marking the approach of the New Year long before the actual date. My mom and I would go shopping for oranges to give as gifts to friends and family, as they're often thought to bring good fortune and wealth.

When presented with leaves, oranges and tangerines share their wishes for a long life.

In addition to its distinct color, the Chinese term for orange bears a resemblance to the word for gold. Occasionally, we'd also include tangerines in the welcoming gesture because that word is associated with good fortune. If we could find oranges and tangerines with their leaves, it would be even more meaningful, as leaves symbolize longevity and a long, healthy life.

When I was growing up, the trade of oranges and tangerines seemed kind of weird to me. We'd visit my grandparents or another family member with our bag of oranges and tangerines and they'd give us one back too. We always ended up bringing home almost as many as we took, but my mom would always say it was more about the thought behind giving them to us rather than getting rid of the fruit itself.

In addition to the orange and tangerine trade, we also made sure to thoroughly clean the house before the New Year arrived.

My mom said you want to get rid of bad luck, but keep the good luck. It's a tradition to get rid of old bad luck from the last year before starting the new one. But you should hold off on cleaning for the first week of the year so you don't accidentally sweep away any good luck it might bring. So, I guess I'm basically giving you permission to skip cleaning for another week!

(Missing instruction)

With a spotless home filled with oranges and tangerines, we were geared up to usher in the start of a brand-new year. Each morning I'd arise and put on a fresh outfit, greet my parents with a cheerful "gung hay fat choy" (Happy New Year in Cantonese), and receive a li see, or lucky money.

I see red envelopes and gold coins for Chinese New Year

Tucked inside the red envelope with our family's last name written in gold characters, would be a bit of money representing good luck and prosperity. I was eligible to receive hong bao until I got married, at which point the situation reversed. Now my husband and I are on the giving side, with hong bao envelopes ready to give to our unmarried relatives such as our nieces and nephews.

We would often spend evenings with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and close family friends at a Chinese New Year banquet. Of course, the orange exchange and giving of li see to my brother and me was a big part of the celebration before we sat down to a long dinner with many courses.

The sweet taste of cookies, or beng, is said to bring a sweet life in the upcoming New Year.

We enjoyed a variety of dishes during our long meal, including a special dish made to bring good fortune, along with long noodles to wish for a long life, which is also commonly served at birthday celebrations, and a sweet red bean soup paired with oranges and fortune cookies.

When my parents were far away and I have children of my own, I often wondered if I was doing a good job of sharing the customs and traditions of Chinese New Year with them. There were times I felt like I was doing okay, and other times when I felt like I was falling behind. Now that my kids are older, I can see that teaching them about Chinese New Year traditions has become a big part of who they are. If you're a parent with young kids and feel like you're not doing enough, just remember: doing something to pass down your cultural heritage is better than doing nothing at all!

Celebrating Chinese New Year with Your Family

Los Angeles Chinatown

If you're curious about Chinese New Year and want to learn more about the customs, traditions, and foods associated with the celebration, here are some helpful resources plus some of our favorite books.

• The Chinese zodiac animal is associated with your birth year.
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• Thanks to The Guardian for sharing how the Year of the Ox is being celebrated in China, Thailand, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, North and South Korea, Russia, England, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and more countries throughout Asia and the world.

5. "Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay" by Xiaolu Guo: This book explores the story of a 20-year-old Chinese woman who travels to London to pursue an educational opportunity, drawing on topics such as immigration, identity, and belonging.

Be sure to learn about Chinese New Year and get familiar with AANPHI culture, history, and traditions through picture and chapter books! Here are some of our favorites!

Board Books for Infants and Toddlers

• The first thing on the next working day following the Holocaust memorial day, I met my Chinese illustrator friend Yan. I had already killed a lot of time trying to understand this highly-religious and celebrated festival of China and, out of curiosity, I asked him about it.
• Chinese New Year Colors
• Ruby’s Chinese New Year
• Chloe’s Lunar New Year
• Dragon Dance
• Our Lunar New Year
• The Tray of Togetherness
• Playing with Lanterns
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• Asian Delights: Appealing Asian Foods from A to Z
• Dim Sum for Everyone
• Yum Yum Dim Sum

These engaging stories will spark a love of reading in young minds and set them on a lifelong journey of discovery and exploration.

• Holidays Around the World: Celebrating Chinese New Year
• 3. ClareFred is a mainMain character
• Welcoming the Start of Something New
• Your eyes dance in the midst of obsession/

Comics for Grown-Ups

The Struggle for Belonging: A Historical Overview of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Vol. 1.

"Fighting to Belong!" is a brand new book that was released just yesterday, offering a fresh take on how students can learn about the vital and ever-changing role of Asian American and Pacific Islander history within the fabric of America's history. This graphic novel will take readers on a journey through time with a group of middle school students and their guide, Kenji, as they experience and learn about important events in the history of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders from the 1700s to the 1800s. This is the first book to be released in the Fighting to Belong series. I wish this book existed when my kids and I were in the middle grades - it would be perfect for us during that time. Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander students and their peers to see themselves in history books.

Bilingual Titles:

• 12. Pig: A warm, optimistic, and calm animal.
• Home for Chinese New Year: A Story Told in English and Chinese

Favorite Cookbook

Woks of Life

I preordered it, and I anxiously awaited its release date. Nowadays, it's a trusted resource for me to get tasty meals at home, and I still subscribe to the Woks of Life emails to get the first opportunity to know about their latest recipes.

Amazon.com Widgets

Amazon Affiliate links included in this post. All opinions are my own.

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