1. New Year's Eve
New Year’s Eve is the last day of the lunar calendar year, also known as “Chuxi,” and is one of the most important moments in the lunar New Year. Usually, the New Year’s custom on this night is for the family to gather together for a reunion dinner. The reunion dinner also includes dishes that carry symbolic meanings according to tradition, such as fish symbolizing “abundance every year” and chicken representing “great luck and prosperity.”
Some more traditional families also observe the New Year custom of “staying up late” on New Year’s Eve. After finishing the reunion dinner, the whole family gathers to chat about recent events, watch TV, or engage in small bets for fun, laughing and joking until the early morning of the first day of the new year, expressing their gratitude for the past year and their blessings for the new year.
Interestingly, there will actually be no New Year’s Eve in 2025 and the following five years, so all reunion dinners will have to be held a day earlier on the 29th day of the 12th lunar month. This is because the calculations in the lunar calendar cause New Year’s Eve to “disappear” for five years starting in 2025. After five years, everyone will be able to resume the traditional New Year’s Eve customs!
