Do you want good luck this year? Try these Lunar New Year traditions from NPR readers: NPR

January 29 marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year, one of the most important festivals in many Asian countries, including Vietnam, China, Korea and the Asian diaspora. Many travel back to their hometowns to spend time with loved ones. It is a time for many to honor their elders, reflect on the joys and tragedies of the past year, and set intentions for a good year ahead.

Every culture that celebrates the Lunar New Year has traditions passed down from generation to generation that are believed to bring good luck.

For Lunar New Year 2025, I asked NPR readers and listeners to share the new and old traditions they practice to ensure a lucky year ahead. Here are some of their responses, edited for length and clarity.

Happy envelopes

Almost all respondents had fond memories of receiving lucky envelopes. After all, who would be unhappy to be handed cold hard cash? These envelopes are traditionally red and gold and filled with crisp, never used notes.

Usually, elders give these envelopes to young, unmarried family members as a sign of good luck in exchange for good wishes. But Stacy Nguyen, an artist from Seattle, says the practice has become a bit relaxed. “Friends give them to other friends. We give envelopes to bring joy and happiness,” she said.

Nguyen started creating her own envelopes for the Lunar New Year five years ago to connect with other Vietnamese. As a child, she always received envelopes with Chinese characters, and she wondered why there weren’t more Vietnamese-themed ones. While traditional envelopes are red and gold, Nguyen’s envelopes feature the animal of the Chinese zodiac associated with that year. 2025 is the Year of the Snake.

Start with a clean slate

Several readers said they clean their homes from top to bottom in the days leading up to the new year.

“You want to do it before the new year itself to get rid of any bad luck that came with the past year and make way for good luck and prosperity into the new year,” said Chelsea Tan, a baker from Reston, Va.

Penny Lee of Silver Spring, Md., has a thorough cleaning routine. She cleans out her closets, donates clothes she no longer needs, discards expired food from her refrigerator and pantry, and reorganizes every room in her home.

Many readers warned that you should stop cleaning when the new year comes. “Throwing something away on the New Year means throwing away your luck,” said Tran Tran of Worcester, Massachusetts.

Alison Wong of New York City says entering the new year with a clean slate makes her feel like she can start fresh. “I feel like having everything cleaned up allows me to enjoy the New Year’s celebration.”

Setting you up for success

Wong adds that many Chinese New Year traditions, such as cleaning or eating sweets, are about setting the mood for the coming year. “A lot of it feels about intention. (Eating) sweets in the morning not only signals a new change for the new year, but it’s about bringing only sweet moments into life.

“What you do on the first day of the new year is how your year will go,” said Rebe C. of Annandale, Va., “On New Year’s Day, I live like it’s my ‘perfect day.’ waking up early, meditating, spending quality time with family and dedicating time to the hobby I want to focus on throughout the year.

Thao Bui of New York City and her partner believe that the first person who walks into your home sets the tone for the whole year. That’s why her partner walks around the neighborhood on New Year’s before returning home, as part of a Vietnamese custom known as land “We don’t want any zodiac sign to clash with ours to bring bad luck,” she said.

Lucky color red

Like Christmas and Halloween, decorations play a big role in Lunar New Year celebrations. Athan Lau’s family uses red decorations to sweep away bad luck from the past year. He also remembers seeing red fireworks as a child every New Year.

“Red symbolizes happiness, luck and celebration, all from the Legend of Nian,” said Lau. “Nian was a folklore monster that ate people from a Chinese village until one day an old man came and asked the people to make loud noises, decorate their homes in red and create bright lights. Today we dress and decorate in red and gold because it brings good luck to our family. We also celebrate together to honor family values ​​and our great-grandparents and ancestors who came before us.”

Eat your way to happiness

Many foods eaten during the Lunar New Year symbolize good luck.

Chelsea Tan, originally from Malaysia, and Steven Teo, originally from Singapore, participate in the “prosperity throw”, also known as yee sang or hey hey This tradition involves tossing a salad made with fish and other crunchy vegetables.

Tan says the ingredients in the salad represent different things: fish for abundance, vegetables for vitality and so on. The participants gather around the table and throw the salad as high as possible while shouting good luck. “The higher you throw, the luckier you are,” Tan said.

Teo, who calls this dish hi hi says laughed means to mix, but can also mean the act of doing business. “So tossing the salad higher means your business or work will be better next year. Hei means happiness.”

Mary Yee fondly remembers her mother and aunts making dumplings on Lunar New Year when the family gathered for a big meal. Although my grandparents and parents are no longer with us, I am grateful that they share these traditions with me so that I can pass them on to my children, grandchildren and the generations to come,” she said.

Dress for success

Many readers look forward to putting on a new outfit that symbolizes a fresh start. Others like to wear clothes traditional to their cultures, like food blogger Kristen Morita, who wears a traditional Chinese cheongsam for the holiday. She says she wore her mother’s cheongsam to her wedding and later learned that more modern interpretations of the dress are available. Now she and her children celebrate their traditions through fashion.

Lena Chen of Sebastopol, California, didn’t grow up with a lot of money. She remembers when her mother saved up all year to buy fabrics to make new clothes for her as a child. “It was the most beautiful red dress my sister and I had ever worn! After all these years, I still remember it as a labor of love from my mother.”

In addition to clothes, some believe that your hair can determine your luck for the year. Karen Yee of San Francisco says she doesn’t cut or wash her hair on New Year’s Day. “Hair and luck in Chinese are homonyms,” she said. “So if you cut or wash your hair on the day of the Lunar New Year, it means that you are washing or cutting the luck you have at the start of the year.”

New traditions

While many of these traditions have been passed down through the generations, a few readers have adopted new ones that are important to their families.

Instead of lucky envelopes filled with cash, Tara Hall of Framingham, Mass., sends three instant lottery tickets to loved ones. “I like the idea of ​​testing your luck without knowing if or how much you could win,” she says. Since she started the tradition before the pandemic, she has sent just over 30 tickets to her family members. She says that if someone wins, they will take her to dinner. So far she has had no luck.

Marelle Kuo of Detroit says books were a “happy place” here during a challenging childhood as a Taiwanese immigrant. She wanted to pass her love of books on to her children, so they would read a new one every year. This year they will read We are lion dancers by Benson Shum. “Although my children will never experience the world as immigrants, it is important that they understand their rich Taiwanese heritage,” she said. “I grew up feeling like I had to assimilate to survive. I don’t want that for my kids.”

Carol Ritchie edited this article. The radio version of this story was produced by Destinee Adams and edited by Barry Gordemer.