This will be my fifth Lunar New Year in Hong Kong. While I will admit that Christmas is my favorite time of year, Lunar New Year is a very, very close second (with Mid Autumn Festival coming in third). You can really feel the energy become more positive and hopeful. After everyone puts their Christmas decorations away by 1 January, everything switches gears for Lunar New Year, which usually takes place in January or February depending on the full moon. Christmas trees are swapped for peonies and orchids, green Christmas garland is swapped for red lanterns, and Santa is swapped for lions, dragons, and snakes (this lunar new year will be Year of the Snake).
Almost every street in the city is filled with shops decorated for Lunar New Year and/or selling items for the holiday, such as lanterns and lai see. Temples are busier than usual with many coming to make prayers and request blessings for the upcoming new year. A lot of Hong Kong’s most cherished restaurants will also have special new year menus during this time, such as new year pudding. And no matter how old you are, a magnificent lion dance performance always leaves you in awe and excitement as the lions move in dynastic ways to the sound of the drums. Lunar New Year in Hong Kong really is the best time to see the city come alive.
Shop My Outfit
Lioness jacket (also available here) // Agolde top (similar here) // Marques’Almeida skirt (old; similar here) // Veja sneakers // Polene bag
Hong Kong is extremely busy during Lunar New Year, with an estimated one million people flocking to the city to celebrate. The holiday is typically celebrated for two and a half weeks, with this year the holiday beginning on 29 January and ending on 16 February. During the first week, you’ll see many people dressed in the colors that represent good luck, good fortune, happiness, and love – red, yellow, gold, and pink. Beyond the fashion, even the food has a meaning. Glutinous rice cake (also known as niangao) symbolizes higher prosperity for your business, dumplings/dim sum symbolizes wealth, shrimp symbolizes happiness (that’s so cute), a whole roast chicken symbolizes luck, noodles symbolize longevity, and fish symbolizes prosperity.
Lunar New Year is also a big time for families to come together. There is no school or work for at least a week, and so everyone is expected to gather together as a family and eat. During the height of the pandemic, this wasn’t really possible, but for the last 2 years I’ve gotten to really experience this beautiful holiday. Just before the pandemic, I got to celebrate Lunar New Year in Vietnam, and last year we took little bean on a staycation where she got to experience her first fireworks and first lion dance. This year we will keep it more low key with a lovely dim sum brunch (she absolutely loves dim sum). All week she has been painting dragons and creating lanterns with her friends, and she has been excitedly pointing out all the snake decorations for this upcoming new year.
