Credit, Getty Images
With over 1.5 billion people celebrating the Lunar New Year this weekend, customs and traditions inevitably vary between the communities and countries that celebrate the date.
Even different cultures disagree on what the new zodiac sign should be. The Chinese welcome the Year of the Rabbit. But in Vietnam it’s the Year of the Cat. But in the end, who is right?
“I’m happy to see the difference being noticed,” says Dr. Nguyen Phuong Mai, researcher in the fields of intercultural communication and prejudice management.
Nguyen is a Dutch-Vietnamese diversity scholar based in Australia. She recently returned to Hanoi to see her family on Tet, the Vietnamese term for the Lunar New Year.
Credit, Nguyen Phuong Mai
Nguyen Phuong Mai was in Hanoi to see his mother for the Lunar New Year
In 2016, she wrote on her website about the frustration Vietnamese and other non-Chinese Asians feel when people greet them with “Happy Chinese New Year.”
“Korean, Vietnamese, and many other Asian communities celebrate New Year by saying, ‘Happy Lunar New Year.’ For well-intentioned foreigners, it’s good to remember that good intentions don’t excuse ignorance.”
Australian disappointment
Last week, Sydney’s Vietnamese community was disappointed by the cat’s absence from the Australian city’s Lunar New Year events.
“While many Sydney residents have ties to Vietnam, prominent venues and most Sydney councils only feature the rabbit and have made no mention of the cat in their promotional material for their Lunar New Year celebrations,” the broadcaster wrote. Australian state ABC.
“It took years of lobbying to change the name to the Sydney Lunar New Year Festival to include more cultures and communities, despite opposition from some in the Chinese community,” the TV channel said.
For dr. Nguyen, the restlessness comes from diversity and the need for inclusion.
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Vietnamese communities come together during the process of making the Lunar New Year rice cake
“Yes, the lunisolar calendar was invented by the Chinese, we recognize that,” he told the BBC.
“Yes, we within the Sinosphere (East Asian cultural sphere) count the New Year the same way. But our actions, our heritage, the emotion attached to it, the ongoing identity-forming power that is embedded in such significant events are diverse. It is not a cultural asset of just one country or one community.”
“Of course, there are similarities in our New Year’s traditions. But when I’m in Australia and I see everything about the Lunar New Year in shops and towns that cater only to the Chinese community, I can’t help but wonder. [sentir que estou] be cancelled.”
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Glutinous rice is the main ingredient of Lunar New Year food in East and Southeast Asia.
Chinese economic power
“The tension is real for people who rightly feel they have their own traditions but are overwhelmed by China’s overwhelming cultural economic power,” says Professor Robert André LaFleur. He chairs the Center for Asian Studies and History at Beloit College, Wisconsin.
“But this is not just happening today. It has always happened. The weight of the Chinese people, tradition and Chinese cultural dominance in the region have always been there.”
Dr. Nguyen says greeting people with “Happy Lunar New Year” is the best choice of words.
“The difference between the Cat and the Rabbit zodiac is a good example. It shows how a culture that enters a community mixes with local customs and traditions and eventually transforms into a new version with different meaning and importance.”
agricultural influences
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An ancient drawing from China shows a farmer and oxen plowing – a common scene from the country’s agricultural life for over a thousand years
The Lunar New Year is determined by the lunisolar calendar, which most historians agree is at least 2,500 years old.
“In short, the origin of the calendar, for me, was people who framed their agricultural life around the phases of the moon. The cycle of the waxing and waning moon guided farmers when to work and when to rest,” explains Professor LaFleur.
How and why the ancient Chinese harnessed 12 animals to a lunar year to create a 12-year zodiac cycle remains a mystery, with many mythical tales and fables supporting different theories.
But pottery artifacts from early 8th century China have illustrations of the 12 animals of the zodiac.
animal breed
A folktale tells of animals running a race to determine their order in the zodiac: “The rat tricks and comes first by leaping onto the ox’s back, then leaping forward at the last moment.”
The order of these 12 animals is: mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
The Vietnamese version is: Rat, Buffalo, Tiger, Cat, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.
Credit, Getty Images
The 12 signs of the zodiac
Vietnam’s love for cats
So why are we about to enter the Year of the Cat in Vietnam and the Year of the Rabbit in China?
Giang Nguyen, head of the BBC’s Vietnam bureau, believes the explanation lies in the fact that cats are much more a part of Vietnamese culture than rabbits.
“My observation is that Vietnamese folk songs are full of feline themes. This suggests that the animal has been in rural Vietnamese life for a long time.”
“But the rabbit has appeared almost only in literature as a reference to the moon, suggesting cultural importance.”
“Some East Asian cultural experts have been quoted as saying, ‘Hares or rabbits are colder climate animals, so they are not native to the tropical wetlands of Vietnam. Cats, by contrast, must have been domesticated by ancient people who lived in present-day Vietnam or Southeast Asia for centuries. And the Vietnamese seem to love cats, while the rabbit is completely foreign to them.”
Credit, Getty Images / Linh Pham
Stickers with images of a cat on display at the Tet Fair in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam
zodiac characteristics
If both the cat and the rabbit represent the coming year, does it mean that the characteristics of both animals have the same influence on people born under these two signs?
In Chinese folklore, each animal has particular characteristics. But using the animal zodiac of someone’s birth year to say something about his character or predict his future is a more recent development.
Historians tend to view this custom as a modern invention because there is no mention of such beliefs in ancient Chinese texts.
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A man in Indonesia holds gifts depicting rabbits
In addition to the differences between the zodiac signs, it is also possible to find variations in food, in the methods of distribution of the “lucky money” and in what is done during family reunions.
Panties and red panties
For example, the color red – the hue of the New Year in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong – is much less dominant on Seoul, the Korean Lunar New Year.
Koreans celebrate the date on the same day as Chinese New Year. But in some rare cases, every few years, the two new years have a day difference between them.
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Sebae, a Korean Lunar New Year ritual in which younger family members kneel on the ground and bow to older family members, showing respect
There are still differences in relation to the distribution of “lucky money”. On the first day of the year it is very common for children and singles in the house to receive an envelope containing money, as a good luck charm.
In Korean New Year’s Sebae, white envelopes are used more often than the red or colored versions favored by the Chinese and Vietnamese.
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Sliced rice cake soup (Tteokguk) is a traditional Korean dish eaten during the Korean New Year celebration
For the Chinese, red has great significance. They have a traditional belief that wearing red underwear in the early days of the new year wards off evil spirits and brings good luck.
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A visitor hangs a red paper lantern with New Year’s wishes during a lantern show at the ancient city wall in Xian, China
travel risks
In all cultures that celebrate the Lunar New Year, family reunion is a crucial part of the celebration. Celebrations bring great joy. But they also pose particular risks after the coronavirus pandemic. This is the first spring festival after covid hit the country where Chinese people are no longer under strict pandemic restrictions.
Credit, Reuters
Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai during the annual Spring Festival rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year
Many citizens left the cities for the countryside, finally being able to return to the traditions that had been denied them for three years.
Health alerts have been issued for the most vulnerable and there are fears of a huge spike in Covid infections and deaths.
The desire to return to normal life versus the desire to escape uncertain risks is a delicate balance. Many Chinese – and people of other nationalities celebrating the Lunar New Year – need to assess the situation before deciding what to do.
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