Or: “Timekeeping is a fuck and this shit is convoluted”
Preface: There are 3 types of calendars. Solar (like the Gregorian calendar), Lunar (like the Islamic calendar) and Lunisolar (like the Hebrew calendar).
“The Korean lunisolar calendar, like most other East Asian calendars such as those of Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, among others, are all derived from historical variants of Chinese ones such as the Shixian calendar of the Ming dynasty.”
I’m not a die hard about calling it “Chinese New Year” despite TET in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea both being derived from the Chinese calendar, among others. They have adapted their own customs and traditions to it. Calling the celebration “Chinese New Year” is not the most accurate. I am of a mind to call it what matters to you, you don’t have to translate it. Ramadan is Ramadan, no need to translate it to “Scorching Heat”, Hanukkah is Hanukkah, no need to translate it to “Dedication”.
However, to call it “Lunar New Year” implies it’s the definitive lunar calendar, which erases other civilizations’ timekeeping traditions. There are multiple lunar calendars with their own lunar new years such as Ugadi in India, Hijri in Muslim countries and the Tamil calendar as well.
Not to mention the Chinese calendar is actually lunisolar and not solely lunar, incorporating both solar and lunar timekeeping, so “Lunar New Year” is half accurate at best. Switching to calling it “Lunisolar New Year” also runs into similar issues, the Thai calendar is lunisolar (but Songkran/Thai New Year is in April) as is the Hebrew calendar (Rosh Hashanah/Hebrew New Year is in Sept-Oct)
In China, using 农历/agricultural calendar (due to its historical significance in relation to farming) or 旧历/old calendar to refer to the Chinese calendar are the most accurate whereas 阴历/lunar calendar and 阳历/solar calendar being common vernacular despite being technically incorrect.
Just call it 春节/Spring Festival or 新年/New Year, it’s the most common terms (元旦 is the most common way of referring to the Gregorian new year in China itself.) It really doesn’t matter that much to us. The term “Chinese New Year” is rarely used in China and was probably a term used by Chinese immigrants for the benefit of Westerners.
Tl;Dr “Lunar New Year” is well meaning but incorrect, erases other lunar calenders and recently has been used maliciously.
Chinese diaspora calls Chinese new year 农历新年 (agricultural calendar new year). 春节 is really only used by people who came from China. If you go and ask Chinese diaspora and their descendants from South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand etc. they will use 农历新年. In Hong Kong, it’s also 农历新年 (agricultural calendar new year).
农历 (agricultural calendar) itself was based on 夏历 (summer calendar, also known as 阴历 or lunar calendar) and further combined with elements from 阳历 (solar calendar) to compose a lunisolar calendar.
There is nothing wrong with calling it a Lunar New Year. That’s what Chinese people who have settled down outside of China have been calling for more than a century.
All the Chinese diaspora I know just say 新年. And it reveals an important point: nobody cares about Solar New Years relative to Chinese New Years, so there’s no point to even talk about Solar New Years, meaning there’s no ambiguity when people say 新年. For Chinese New Years, there’s traditions that are still followed with various degrees of observance. Meanwhile, there’s no tradition associated with Solar New Years. What do you have to do exactly before 1/1? People have (Solar) New Years Eve parties, but that isn’t really a tradition either because it’s not like those parties have any act that you have to do right before 1/1. Food and beverages are basically Christmas leftovers or things already associated with Christmas like eggnog.
I suppose it makes sense since Christmas is technically 12 days (hence the Christmas carol 12 Days of Christmas). Christmas Day is the one people think when they hear Christmas because USians poor understanding of Christianity cause them to think Christmas is only one day instead of twelve, which eventually got exported to non-Christian countries like Japan. 1/1 is the 8th day of Christmas and the feast associated with it is the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ to commemorate when Jesus got circumcised.
Fascinating, I’m Chinese diaspora but we always called it 春节 or 新年 in our house, I assume because my parents are from mainland China. Actually I think we most commonly just say “过年” in casual conversation because I can’t think of a lot of situations in which we would have to specify which holiday we’re referring to when January-February rolls around and the preparations begin.
Yes I actually learned that outside of mainland China, like in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, people don’t refer to Chinese new year as 春节 but more commonly 农历新年 (to distinguish it from the “Western” new year), at least in local media publications. And yes 过年 is colloquially used and I think quite universally as well.
That’s what Chinese people who have settled down outside of China have been calling for more than a century
Is that true? I can’t find a source for that and only remember this term being common in the last decade or so
I meant “Lunar New Year” in English btw
You mean 农历新年? My partner is Chinese from a SEA country and it’s been used that way by Chinese diaspora for at least as many decades as their parents have been alive. I know Hong Kong people use it as well and they made up a good proportion of the Chinese immigrant circle in Western countries. I’ve really only heard of 春节 used by people from mainland China.
I meant “Lunar New Year” in English
春节 has been the formal way of saying it since the (first) republic, to disambiguate it from the Gregorian new year. So roughly the fall of the Qing dynasty
I’m not disagreeing that people call it the Lunar New Year, however I was highlighting that calling it the capital L Lunar new year makes it seem it was the only or the most predominant lunar new year when there are others and the Chinese calendar actually being lunisolar and not purely lunar does a disservice.
Like any other diaspora term (唐人街 is a big one despite how far removed we are from the Tang dynasty and dynastic rule as a whole), it tends not to encompass the whole.
在国内我遇到了很多不同的说法，可是外国人不了解这个方面。
加上“农历” being more specific as opposed to “阴历” 我觉得也重要
From Baidu Baike:
农历在民间通常被错误地称作阴历，其实它是属于阴阳合历。
The agricultural calendar is often mistakenly referred to as the lunar calendar in the folk society, when it is in fact a lunisolar calendar.
It is the common folks who have been mistakenly calling it a lunar calendar for years.
But I agree with you that you can hear many different versions of it being called in foreign countries, possibly because Chinese diaspora itself is very diverse with people of Chinese descent coming from many different parts of the world. I think the Hong Kong immigrants were some of the earliest wave of Chinese immigrants that set the initial trend of how things are called.
lunisolar and not solely lunar
Hot take, calling it Spring Festival in the southern hemisphere is chaotic good
I do this whenever I can’t go home for it.
“Happy Spring Festival!”
“Mate it’s 37°C and the Triple J Hottest 100 was last weekend what about this seems like it’s spring?”
Question regarding practical application: I have several coworker friends who are from China (i.e. born and raised) but living in the US. I want to make them feel welcome and appreciated because they are cool and also I can’t imagine what it’s like for them to live in this racist hellhole. So I assume a simple “Happy New Year” would be the most socially appropriate expression?
Yeah pretty much, Lunar New Year is not even the most important holiday compare to Winter Festival if you really want to be traditional. Most people are just ok to receive wishful holiday sentiment, don’t over complicate thing
Never understand the controversies behind it. I guess every societies need their “Happy Holiday vs Merry Christmas” debate
Funny this kind of controversy only happens in English. I don’t seem to recall any such controversy in the Chinese language.
It’s like people crying about “Ukraine” and “the Ukraine” in English when Russian/Ukrainian don’t even have definite article in their languages and the two variants (with or without the “the”) are literally the same word.
In the same way CCP vs CPC is also only a controversy in English - 中国共产党 literally translates to Chinese Communist Party and only foreigners would try to start a debate about it. Most Chinese people would happily accept it either way (and in fact, was the case before 1943 until CPC was adopted to emphasize the nationalist character of the party).
It seems some people are over focus on the term instead of what the terms meant to represent. It’s just like people on reddit calling China West Taiwan as a power move. Perhaps it is just a sign of powerlessness.
It’s like people crying about “Ukraine” and “the Ukraine” in English when Russian/Ukrainian don’t even have definite article in their languages and the two variants (with or without the “the”) are literally the same word.
Sidenote, really like the older generation calling people in China still calling everyone from post soviet countries “Soviet Union”
Haha the older folks love that shit.
I also know many older folks who weirdly love and admire Putin and think he’s taking on 美帝 lol.
Probably the more hawkish older Chinese generation see Russia as a more warlike political oriented country compare to the more dovelike China in an era of new Cold War.
Coincidentally, they are also not going to be the one fighting in the frontline if a Sino-US war happens
It’s fine either way, 新年 is very common as is 春节, however “Chinese New Year” is basically non existent in here China. As I said, none are explicitly wholly inaccurate, but calling it purely “Lunar New Year” is somewhat inaccurate and implications re: the other lunar calendars that aren’t east Asian.
Ok I’m Jewish but use the American calendar. What the fuck is lunisolar!
A lunisolar calendar will have aspects of both. While the time of year will be based on solar events like it’s position in the sky, equinoxes solstices and such, certain holidays are based on cycles of the moon.
This means a year is still roughly 365 days (with some years having an extra month to remain in sync)
A purely lunar calendar would be the Islamic calendar, a year being defined as 354 days, so it’s currently in winter (in the northern hemisphere) but will take place 11 days earlier every year until it syncs up again in 33 years.
The date of Easter was based on lunisolar timekeeping as it traditionally takes place on the first full moon after the spring equinox (in the northern hemisphere) which is why it’s date varies (unlike most other Christian feasts, which are based purely on solar dates).
Spring Festival, likewise, will always be between Jan 20th and Feb 21st every solar year unlike the Islamic new year which is 11 days earlier every single solar year.
Thank you for the explanation! My mom would always be telling me dates of yartzheit (prayers for the dead) but it would always change and I can’t keep up. But on the English calendar my dad died on the same day…. Year after year
