For sophomore Jasmine Chenfu, the Lunar New Year is a time for family reunion and good fortune. While her family’s approach to the holiday is a little different from others, they still celebrate important traditions. 

“We make traditional food and we always clean before New Year’s,” Chenfu said. “We also set off firecrackers and turn up all the lights.”

Associated with the cycles of the moon, the Lunar/Chinese New Year occurs on the second new moon after the winter solstice. This calendar is called the lunisolar calendar and shares similarities with the Hebrew calendar. The Lunar New Year’s celebration was set on Feb. 17.

The Almanac states traditions of the Chinese New Year include “lucky money” in red envelopes, special foods such as noodles and dumplings and spring cleaning before the important day. Lunar New Year is celebrated in China, Korea, Vietnam and many overseas diasporas in Singapore, Malaysia and the US. Korea and Vietnam have slightly different traditions compared to China, however. 

Sophomore Phillip Shin celebrates Seollal, the Korean Lunar New Year. He said he agreed with Chenfu’s notions of eating special foods as a tradition to ring in the New Year, with spicy rice cakes on the Korean menu for Lunar New Year.

Another prominent tradition of Lunar New Year includes Asian zodiac signs. Asian zodiac signs, commonly referred to as “chinese zodiac signs,” are animals that correspond to each year in a cycle of 12. For example, the year of the tiger occurred in 2010 and 2023. FluentU also states the existence of a cycle of 60 years, which associates the animal with an element of water, wood, earth, metal or fire. 2026’s element is fire.

“The zodiac sign is a horse for this year,” Shin said. “There’s a lot of crossover from Chinese culture to a lot of other Asian cultures.”

Chinese teacher Tungfen Lee said that many cultural practices, such as using Asian zodiac signs to assess potential relationships, originate from Chinese culture.

“This tradition exists in China, Taiwan, as well as in many overseas Chinese communities; many Chinese people still believe in [considering zodiac signs when assessing compatibility] today,” Lee said.

Chenfu said she has found examples of these compatibility measurements in modern media. 

“On Chinese TikTok too, [a creator] was saying they can’t date someone because it’s kind of like they’re INFP or that type of stuff. If you’re a certain animal, and [another person’s] animal doesn’t work with your’s, you can’t date each other,” Chenfu said.

Chenfu referenced INFP, a Myer Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which basically gives you a four letter combination for your personality type. Chinese zodiac signs are different from MTBI, since they don’t give you a zodiac based on your enriched personality, but on your birth year instead. 

ChinaHighlights states that “Chinese zodiac animals have astrological and cultural meanings. Chinese people associate each animal sign with certain characteristics. It’s believed that people born in a given year have the personality of that year’s animal.”

However, Lee, Chenfu and Shin all said this determination of identity almost loses its importance in newer generations of Asian Americans.

“After living in America for more than 30 years, I no longer follow the practice (of viewing zodiac signs as important indicators of identity)” Lee said. “Many, many people will still follow [zodiac signs] to some extent, either for fun or for part of cultural tradition.”

Shin said he enjoyed the fun of asian zodiac signs and also the change for Asians in the United States.

“It’s kind of a fun fact that you can just say, ‘I was born in the year of the Tiger,’” Shin said. “Especially for me as a Korean American, it’s definitely not as big a part of my life as my cousins in Korea.”

Even while Asian zodiac practices do not influence society in the United States, Lee, Shin and Chenfu said they do not believe that it is outdated.

“[Asian zodiac signs are] definitely an important part of culture,” Shin said. “I don’t think [zodiac signs] should be gotten rid of.”

Chenfu agreed and said people shouldn’t stop following zodiac signs. 

“It’s cool. Everyone has different beliefs, and I don’t think [zodiac sign traditions] should be erased,” Chenfu said. “Just because I don’t really believe in it doesn’t mean it should be left behind.”