What is the Lunar New Year? 🐉
Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is a festival that lasts as many as 15 days, beginning on the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ending on the first full moon of the lunar year.
Because of the variation of the lunisolar calendar, this holiday falls somewhere between January 21 and February 20. Around 10 days before New Year's Eve, many families initiate a spring cleaning to remove any bad luck and evil spirits that may be lingering from the year prior.
Lunar New Year is celebrated by more than 1.5 billion people in the world, including China, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, and more.
Traditionally, Lunar New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are when celebrations with family occur, including religious ceremonies that honor ancestors. Some added traditions of the New Year celebrations include the giving of red envelopes containing small amounts of money, and the Lantern Festival, which includes fireworks, paper lanterns, and a lion dance performance.
Celebrations for Lunar New Year vary across many Asian countries:
- In China, families prepare lucky traditional Chinese foods such as Tang Yuan, which are glutinous rice balls that symbolize family unity, and prosperity salad, made of fish and vegetables.
- In Vietnam, to celebrate the Lunar New Year known as Tết, people adorn their homes with special plants and flowers, like kumquat trees and peach and apricot blossoms, to symbolize good fortune and prosperity in the new year.
- In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, cultural celebrations known as Pai Thnee Kong and Thnee Kong Sei are celebrated by Hokkien people and occur on the ninth day of the Lunar New Year. At these festivals, people offer food, flowers, and fruits to adorn the altar of the Jade Emperor on his birthday.
- In South Korea, the Lunar New Year is a three-day holiday known as Seollal, which includes visits with family, ancestral ceremonies, folk games, and bonfires to bring luck into the new year.
Why should you celebrate Lunar New Year with your team? 🤔
Lunar New Year, also known as the Chinese New Year celebration, is the largest social and economic holiday for billions of people around the world! Chances are, you have multiple people on your team who celebrate the holiday, too.
Regardless of how many people on your team celebrate Chinese New Year outside of work, it's important to promote diverse perspectives and add visibility for holidays of all cultural backgrounds to your calendar of diversity, equity, and inclusion activities. Here are some reasons why this is critical in the workplace.
Highlight company values
Gen Z employees are expected to make up 30% of the workforce by 2030. That's 50 million jobs they'll be taking responsibility for. This up-and-coming generation has a message for employers: values alignment isn't optional. In fact, 65% of Gen Z graduates say they would only apply for a job if the employer's values match their own.
Celebrating Lunar New Year is an excellent way to show that your organization values inclusion and belonging. This is critical to attracting and retaining top talent, as Gallup research shows that 42% of employees say that having an employer that is diverse and inclusive is important when considering their next job.
Boost employee morale
That same research from Gallup confirms that seeing, respecting, and celebrating employees for who they are has a markedly positive impact on productivity and performance. This is because employees tend to feel good about themselves and their work when they feel heard in the workplace.
When employees feel positive, that high level of enthusiasm and satisfaction shows up in the work they do every day. Who knew that something as fun as celebrating the Lunar New Year with your team could lead to such a significant impact on workplace attitudes and culture?
Build team camaraderie
As a team, your relationships are your superpower. Research shows that having deep and meaningful relationships at work builds trust and comfort. When an employee truly knows and cares about the people they work with, they may be more likely to love coming to work, see value in recognizing their peers, and try hard for the sake of the collective.
Fortunately, celebrating Lunar New Year can be a team-building activity in itself. You are fostering team unity by celebrating with those who already have this as a yearly tradition. Even for those who may be unfamiliar with the occasion, you are getting a chance to share food, fun activities, and adventures in learning, which can do wonders for your team's sense of togetherness.
Promote a positive workplace culture
Lunar New Year is fun and festive. It is a celebration of prosperity and a hopeful outlook on the future, and you can let that positivity spill over into your workplace culture. A positive culture creates better alignment and engagement on your team. Research shows that employees who feel connected to your workplace culture are:
- Four times as likely to be engaged
- 5.8 times as likely to recommend their workplace
- 62% less likely to feel burned out
- 43% less likely to look for another job
Right now, only 21% of employees feel connected to their workplace culture. Building a better one through celebration and camaraderie can help to change that.
7 ideas for virtual Lunar New Year activities with your remote team:
1. Dumpling Making Class 🥟
Food is a staple in any New Year celebration, and we're not just talking about making fortune cookies. Many different cultural dishes are used to symbolize the well wishes being brought into the new year. For example, fish represents fortune, noodles symbolize longevity, spring rolls bring a fresh start, and glutinous rice cakes a rise in career and salary.
One of the widely-loved and symbolic foods eaten during the spring festival are dumplings! Traditionally known as a lucky money food in China, dumplings symbolize wealth due to their shape that's similar to ancient Chinese gold ingots. The Chinese name 'jiaozi' means a changing of years, which is why dumplings are eaten on Lunar New Year's Eve!
Why is this a great Lunar New Year activity? Gathering together to learn how to make your own dumplings is a great way to immerse yourself in Lunar New Year culture. This hands-on activity will leave you with some tasty leftovers, too!
How to get started 👉 Spread good fortune in a Dumpling Making Class!
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2. Chinese Tea Brewing 🍵
Tea is another cultural touchstone in the celebration of the lunisolar new year. In many cultural regions, tea ceremonies are performed with family members, with each cup carrying a new meaning for the upcoming year.
Some families brew special teas, like Pu'erh, first sharing with the eldest member of the family who then passes it onto younger members of the family. Teas are served alongside other sweet treats and mandarin oranges, for added luck and prosperity.
Gather your virtual team for a Chinese tea brewing class to learn more about this ancient ceremony and its use in regional Lunar New Year celebrations.
Why is this a great Lunar New Year activity? A tea tasting class is a great way to learn more about the nuances in tea ceremonies, as well as regional flavors and history behind the teas we know and love.
How to get started 👉 Add a Chinese Tea Brewing Class to your Chinese New Year celebrations!
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3. Exchange lucky red envelopes 🧧
The importance of these red envelopes, known as hóngbāo, isn't in the cash they contain, but actually in the color red itself. In Chinese and East Asian cultures, red symbolizes prosperity and good luck.
Carry on the tradition of stuffing red envelopes with a crisp money bill to reward your teammates with coffee or another treat.
Why is this a great Lunar New Year activity? Gifting members of your team with a red envelope, in person or virtually, is a great way to spread the cheer of the coming spring and thank your team for all they do!
How to get started 👉 Grab some red envelopes and share a New Year tradition with your team! If you’d prefer you can include a note of gratitude instead. Amounts can vary, but we suggest giving $25 or $40 to ring in the new year.
4. Understanding Lunar New Year 🐉
Many people may not realize that the Lunar New Year is one of the oldest and widely celebrated holidays in China and East Asian countries, like Korea and Vietnam. Because the holiday centers on family reunions, it also leads to the world's largest migration each year!
Gather your team for a full lesson on the holiday's history and meaning. There are so many different ways it’s celebrated throughout East Asian culture, through works of art, cultural practices, food, and more!
Why is this a great Lunar New Year activity? Gathering for a lesson behind the mythology and history of this two-week long holiday is a fun opportunity to learn more about other cultures. Plus, it's a great employee engagement activity that centers on diversity, equity, and inclusion!
How to get started 👉 Learn about one of the most significant holidays in Understanding Lunar New Year!
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5. Spring clean the office 🧹
Office spring cleaning may not sound like the most fun, but we promise it’s extremely effective, and an important tradition at the start of the Lunar New Year. Whether you work in an office or from home, set aside some time to disinfect your keyboard, wipe down your monitor and desk, unsubscribe from spam emails, and finally throw away those old papers stacking up and collecting dust.
The start of the Lunar New Year is the perfect time to finally organize the files and documents on your desktop, clear out the trash taking up your hard drive’s storage space, and make room for your work in the new year.
Why is this a great Lunar New Year activity? Spring cleaning is a Lunar New Year tradition that symbolizes driving away the previous year’s bad luck in order to make room for new blessings and prosperity.
How to get started 👉 Play some AAPI tunes while you have an office cleaning party! Put some time on the company calendar for everyone to chip in and declutter the office as a team or clean their office set-ups from home.
6. Fortune Cookie Making Class 🥠
Opening up a fortune cookie to reveal the encouraging message inside is a favorite pastime of so many people. Now, your team doesn't have to wait for a table at their favorite restaurant to get one. Instead, they can ring in the Lunar New Year by making them right at home.
All you have to do is book the event, and Confetti will take care of the rest. Our host will provide your team with some educational fun as they learn about the history of fortune cookies and write their own fortunes together.
Then, they'll show them how to bake and decorate this treat to delight their own taste buds or deliver them to six lucky people in their lives. Gluten-free options are available for members of your team who need them.
Why is this a great Lunar New Year activity? Though the origins of the fortune cookie are hotly debated, its undeniable association with luck and prosperity makes it a great addition to your Lunar New Year Celebration.
How to get started 👉 It's your lucky day! Wish your team good fortunes in the New Year with this Fortune Cookie Making Class from Confetti!
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7. Introduce the team to your favorite LNY food ☀️
Since the Philippines has a significant Chinese-Filipino (Tsinoy) community, many traditions are rooted in Fujianese and Cantonese influences, blended with local Filipino customs. One of the most beloved culinary symbols of this fusion is lumpia, which shares deep ties with the Chinese spring roll tradition.
Mix and match fillings like ubod (heart of palm), five-spice tofu, hoisin chicken, lap cheong (Chinese sausage), carrots, and shrimp to create the perfect lumpia. Wrap your own fresh lumpia with peanut sauce or roll up a crispy lumpiang shanghai to fry golden brown.
Why is this a great Lunar New Year activity? Since celebrations for the Lunar New vary across many different Asian countries, it’s important to recognize the variety of traditions included.
How to get started 👉 Prosperity awaits! Encourage one of your teammates to lead a virtual cooking class or give your team a budget to order their favorite LNY food.
Key tips on making this year's celebration a great one
Now that you know what to do, it's time to work on bringing these ideas to life. Keep these tips and best practices in mind as you engage in this year's Lunar New Year festivities.
Focus on an inclusive culture
Celebrating any cultural holiday should feel authentic to everyone on your team. For this to be the case, it needs to be an extension of a culture that already emphasizes inclusivity and belonging.
If possible, get senior leadership's buy-in for your cultural celebrations, and ask them to embrace and promote it. Seeing that Lunar New Year activities are a priority for those at the top means that employees are likely to see it that way, too, which creates a sense that everyone values cultural diversity.
Open yourself up to employee input
It's important to allow your employees to provide feedback on all aspects of their workplace — including cultural activities. You want to ensure everyone feels like their ideas are heard and valued.
If you celebrated the Lunar New Year last year, consider asking for feedback about those celebrations. Either way, you can survey employees on what types of activities or acknowledgment they would like to see included this year and whether they would like to be involved in planning it.
Understand cultural differences
While Lunar New Year festivities are fun, they may be about more than parties and activities for members of your team. It is a time-honored tradition that spans different cultures, with each one celebrating various aspects of the holiday.
Ensure that your team understands the holiday and its nuances. Make a commitment to using the correct terminology when making reference to it. Doing so shows how much you care about your employees and all that they bring to the table.
Make activities optional
You want your cultural celebrations to bring the team together and ensure that everyone knows they are welcomed and appreciated. However, it's critical to acknowledge that, just as many of your employees will want to celebrate, there may be some who prefer not to.
Making participation optional lets them know that their feelings and perspectives are valued, too. This allows each person to do what feels right for them, and that's foundational to an inclusive workplace culture.
Huat Ah! Confetti wishes you good fortune and a prosperous year ahead 🎉
There is no better way to honor the meaning of the Spring Festival than by spending time with your coworkers and loved ones. Ready to plan a virtual celebration and wish your team prosperity in the year ahead? Browse our Chinese New Year Collection to get started!
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