2023 is the Year of the Rabbit!
And Cat (for our Vietnamese friends)!
Lunar New Year celebrates another new year based on the traditional lunisolar calendar - which is based on moon cycles - and the start of spring. Because the Lunar New Year is based on moon cycles, it falls on a different date on the Gregorian calendar each year.
How do people of Asian heritage celebrate it? Well our friends from Little Egg Crafts (Nozomi Tolworthy 雷希望) and Amy Phung 馮金薇 of besea.n wrote a great guide here.
As for me, well there's a lot of traditions I did growing up, but my faves involve getting lai see 利是 aka red packets, because what kid - okay even now, as a single adult - doesn't like money so we can buy whatever we want? When you get lai see you have to say greetings aka 揮春 fai ceon, in fact you say these greetings anyway when you see relatives and others during this festive time.
Here's five Cantonese greetings you can say during Lunar New Year. Be sure to check the posts on our Instagram for further context and my thoughts and feelings on the phrases.
1. 年年有餘 nin4 nin4 jau5 jyu4
Learn more here.
2. 大吉大利 daai6 gat1 daai6 lei6
Learn more here.
3. 心想事成 sam1 soeng2 si6 sing4
Learn more here.
4. 出入平安 ceot1 jap6 ping4 on1
Learn more here.
5. 利是逗來 lai6 si6 dau6 loi4
Learn more here.
6. 快高長大 faai3 gou1 zoeng2 daai6
Learn more here.