Most of the New Year's customs in Taiwan are according to the customs of the people of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou of China, every year-end, people busily prepare everything to celebrate the New Year, because the previous time was the agrarian social era, at the end of the year was also the time to complete all farming work, people held a festival to celebrate their good harvest and by the way to see off the old year and welcome the new year, so new year holiday was very important for the people at that time.
Some Taiwanese customs in traditional New Year Holiday
The custom of worshiping Kitchen Gods
Normally, New Year Holiday is counted from December 24 of lunar calendar, which is also the day to bring Kitchen Gods back to Heaven. From the early morning, Taiwanese people have fully prepared gifts such as 3 items representing Land, Water and Sky, fruit, peanut candy, rice ball sweet soup, malt candy, black sesame candy, and many other candies to send the Gods back to Heaven.
Regarding the offerings to Kitchen Gods, the Taiwanese in the past highly valued sweets such as fruit confectionery because they believe if they offer Kitchen Gods confectionary, the Gods will say good things about them when confronting Jade Emperor in Heaven.
Cleaning the house to welcome the new year
After worshiping Kitchen Gods, the house will be cleaned (however, if there is someone who has just passed away in the family, the house cannot be cleaned for the new year, or if there is a pregnant woman in the family, it is necessary to pay special attention).
In fact, the most important thing in cleaning the house is to clean the altar, because during a normal day, it is not allowed to touch the altar arbitrarily. After the day of sending Kitchen Gods to Heaven until before the New Year's Eve, it is totally fine to clean the altar.
Welcoming the God
December 25 of lunar calendar is also the day to welcome the God, according to Taiwan's traditional custom, this is the day when the Jade Emperor brings his subordinates to Earth to examine people, so it is very important, but today very few people still keep the custom of welcoming the God in this day.
Giving lucky money on New Year's Eve
Ngày 30 Tết là ngày cuối cùng của 1 năm và cũng là ngày chuẩn bị đón chào một năm mới, cúng thần thánh tổ tiên trong ngày này là một tập tục quan trọng nhất của người Đài Loan. Mọi nhà đều chuẩn bị thật nhiều món ăn để đón tổ tiên ông bà về vui Tết với con cháu. Đêm trước ngày 30 mọi thứ đều phải chuẩn bị sẵn sàng đầy đủ, tất cả mọi thứ từ ăn uống, áo quần nhà cửa và lịch trình đi chơi đều phải xếp đặt trình tự đàng hoàng, như vậy mới hên cho cả một năm.New Year's Eve is the last day of a year and is also the day to prepare to welcome a new year, worshiping ancestors on this day is the most important custom of Taiwanese. All families prepare lots of dishes to welcome their ancestors to celebrate the new year with them. The night before New Year's Eve, everything has to be fully prepared, everything from meals, clothes and outing schedules has to be properly sequenced so the year will be full of luck.
Shopping at night markets
Shopping at night markets in traditional new year holiday
Night market is a cultural feature of Taiwan. On normal days, the night market is crowded, but in the last days of the year, the night market atmosphere is way busier. Walking the night market is an opportunity for foreign visitors to immerse themselves in the rhythm of the local culture. At the time of new year in Taiwan, these stalls are more eye-catching decorated and sell a variety of goods for new year such as jam cakes, fruits, clothes, home decorations, ... This atmosphere is also cheerful, bustling, quite like Tet market in Vietnam.
What Taiwanese eat in traditional New Year Holiday
The Taiwanese New Year usually has dishes such as: Whole cooked big green cabbage, symbolizing longevity; cooked whole chives symbolizes permanence; fish represents abundance throughout the year; white radish symbolizes a good start; fish ball, meat ball symbolizes reunification; the nian gao cake represents promotion; whole chicken.
Especially, Taiwanese people have the custom of eating ball soup in New Year Holiday to show fullness and completeness. Besides, during new year holiday in Taiwan, there are also many entertainment activities to welcome the new year such as releasing lanterns, lantern parade...
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