2022: The Year of the Water Tiger

By Yasmin Elgamal

Although we celebrated the new year on January 1st, another celebration welcoming 2022 is being held a month later. February 1st is the start of the year of the Tiger. The Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, is celebrated to bring good luck and honor ancestors. It also welcomes spring in some instances; similar to how we have “spring cleaning” and clean our houses, it is common practice to clean before Chinese new year to get rid of the old and bring in the new.

Although it’s called Chinese new year, many other Asian countries celebrate it, such as Vietnam, South Korea, Mongolia, and many others in the region. It revolves around the Chinese zodiac, or lunar calendar.

There are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac- rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Similarly to the astrological signs, it is believed people born under these animals share their characteristics. People born in the year of the tiger are brave, competitive, unpredictable, and confident. Although technically, it's the year of the water tiger; the reason being the five elements (fire, earth, water, air and wood) rotate alongside the animals. So the tiger’s characteristics may be calmer and more open-minded, since it falls under a water sign.

Celebrating the year of the tiger may last up to 15 days. There are festivals, feasts, and fireworks held in honor of Chinese new year. Each day, a different tradition is practiced. For example, the third day of the new year (in this case, would be February 3rd) it is advised to avoid social interactions, as “chi kou” or red mouth day, is sure to bring in arguments. The 10th day is the Jade Emperor's birthday, but people commemorate his birthday on the 8th, 9th, and 10th day . The backstory on this is the Holko people survived from Japanese pirates who were planning to masacre them- they did this by hiding in sugar canes. It coincides with the Jade emperor’s birthday, between the 8th and 9th day of the Lunar new year. Now, sugar cane is symbolic of thankfulness. And finally, the 15th day is the lantern festival- primarily using red lanterns (read on to find out why).

Traditionally eaten foods are desserts such as pudding and cakes (one such example being turnip cake). Rice balls, noodles, dumplings, chicken, and fish are served as well. Mandarin oranges are believed to symbolize luck, and apples are symbolic of peace. The most important part is families eating together and honoring those before them.

The Chinese New Year festivities are said to originate from the story of Nian, a mythological beast that would terrorize villagers, eating primarily children. The villagers eventually figured out that Nian was afraid of the color red and loud noises. To this day, the Nian has not returned, most likely due to the fireworks and red lanterns put on display every year.

Of course, this isn’t the official story of Chinese new year, but it is still fun to share. Different depictions of the holiday make it all the more unique and fascinating. Despite two difficult consecutive years, hopefully luck will pour into the year of the water tiger. So, let the celebrations commence, and xin nian kuai le (happy new year!).