Lunar New Year 2027 traditions, day by day

The weeks before

The last lunar month is for getting ready. The idea running through every custom is the same: finish the old year properly so the new one can start clean.

• Clean the house top to bottom. This is the big spring clean, and it has to be done before New Year's Day, because sweeping on the day itself is thought to sweep the new luck straight out the door.
• Settle up. Debts are repaid, loans called in, arguments patched over and jobs finished. Starting the year owing someone is considered a poor omen.
• Decorate in red. Paper couplets go up either side of the front door, a diamond-shaped "fortune" character goes on the door itself (often upside down, a pun on fortune "arriving"), and lanterns and paper cuttings fill the windows.
• Thank the Kitchen God. About a week before the year turns, many households offer sweets to the Kitchen God so he reports kindly on the family when he returns to heaven. It is called Little New Year, and it marks the start of the final countdown.
• Get a haircut and buy new clothes. Hair is traditionally cut before the year turns, not after, and new clothes, ideally with some red in them, are laid out for the first morning.

New Year's Eve, Friday 5 February

This is the night that matters most. Families travel long distances to be home for the reunion dinner, the biggest meal of the year. Fish, dumplings, a whole chicken and long noodles all have their place on the table, each for a reason (our food guide explains them).

After dinner, many families stay up late together, a custom called "guarding the year". Elders hand red envelopes to the children, the television plays the new year gala, and at midnight the old year is sent off with fireworks or, in cities that ban them, a lot of noise. Some families open the doors and windows for a moment at midnight to let the old year out.

Day 1, Saturday 6 February: the new year begins

The first day of the Year of the Fire Goat (the Goat, Sheep and Ram are the same sign) starts with new clothes and greetings. Younger family members wish elders a happy new year, usually with a set phrase, and receive a red envelope in return. Visits go to the oldest relatives first.

Many families eat vegetarian food on the first day, partly as a Buddhist custom and partly to give the year a gentle start. Temples are busy from early morning, and lion dances work their way through shopping streets. The day's taboos are strict: no sweeping, no washing hair, no sharp words and no sharp tools.

Day 2, Sunday 7 February: visiting the wife's family

Traditionally a married woman spends the first day with her husband's family and the second with her own parents, bringing her husband and children with her. It is sometimes called the son-in-law's day. In many homes it is also the day the serious visiting round begins, with friends and more distant relatives calling in.

Day 3, Monday 8 February: a quiet one

Folk tradition holds that the third day is prone to arguments, so visiting is discouraged and many people stay home, rest or go to a temple instead. It is a welcome pause after two days of eating and travel.

Days 4 and 5, Tuesday 9 February and Wednesday 10 February: the gods return

The fourth day welcomes the household gods back from heaven, often with a meal laid out in the evening. The fifth is "breaking the five": the first-day taboos are lifted, rubbish can go out again, and shops and businesses reopen. In northern China it is a dumpling day, and in many traditions it is also the birthday of the God of Wealth, so business owners set off firecrackers to invite a prosperous year.

Day 7, Friday 12 February: everyone's birthday

The seventh day is counted as the birthday of all people, from an old creation story in which humans were made on the seventh day. In Malaysia and Singapore it is the day for a raw fish salad called yusheng, tossed high with chopsticks by everyone at the table while shouting good wishes. The higher the toss, the better the year.

Days 8 to 14: back to normal, mostly

Most people are back at work by now. Hokkien communities hold a major offering to the Jade Emperor on the ninth day, with sugar cane tied to the doorway. Decorations stay up, greetings are still exchanged, and red envelopes can still be given right up to the fifteenth.

Day 15, Saturday 20 February: the Lantern Festival

The first full moon of the year closes the season. Families eat tangyuan, small glutinous rice balls in sweet soup, whose round shape stands for a family kept whole. Lanterns are lit and carried, riddles are pinned to them for passers-by to solve, and in many places there are dragon dances after dark. After tonight the decorations come down, and the Year of the Fire Goat is properly under way.

Tết and Seollal

Vietnam and Korea share the date but keep their own customs. Vietnamese Tết centres on three main days. The first visitor to cross the threshold in the new year is believed to set the family's luck, so hosts often invite someone cheerful and successful to come first. Homes are decorated with kumquat trees and peach or apricot blossom, and the signature food is bánh chưng, a square sticky rice cake wrapped in leaves.

Korean Seollal usually runs for three days too. The morning begins with an ancestral rite at a laden table, then children perform a deep bow to their elders and receive money and words of blessing in return. Everyone eats tteokguk, a rice cake soup, and is said to turn a year older with it.

Celebrating from far away

You do not need the full fifteen days. Pick the pieces that fit: a clean house and a red decoration before the eve, a shared dinner with a whole fish on the table, a video call to the oldest person in the family on the first morning, and a bowl of something round and sweet on the fifteenth. The point of every custom is the same: start the year together, and start it on purpose.