Beijing, Europe Brief News – China started celebrating Lunar New Year 2023 known as the Year of the Rabbit.
Today, many people marked Lunar New Year worldwide with a variety of traditions. In China, families typically gather together for a 16-day celebration full of feasting, fireworks and gift-giving. Traditional gifts include hongbao, or “red envelopes,” which are typically stuffed with cash.
The holiday also sees the largest annual human migration(opens in new tab) on Earth, during which billions of people worldwide travel to their ancestral homes to celebrate with family.
The holiday typically falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice.
For that reason, the date changes year to year compared to the fixed holidays of the Gregorian calendar. But it always falls in January or February.
China starts celebrating the LunarNewYear2023 with a Golden Dragon Parade on the Yulong River in Yangshuo. 🐉🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/BDnTTfZAQG
— H0W_THlNGS_W0RK (@HowThingsWork_) January 24, 2023
This year, Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit according to the Chinese zodiac, which assigns different animals to years over a 12-year cycle.
According to ChineseNewYear.net(opens in new tab), the rabbit is associated with the moon in China ‘s culture, perhaps because the shadows of the moon were once thought to represent a rabbit.
China’s Yutu-2 rover, the longest-running lunar rover in history, gets its name from the Chinese characters for “jade rabbit.”
