TAIPEI, Taiwan — With fireworks, feasts, and red envelopes loaded with cash for the youngsters, many Asian countries and abroad populations celebrated the Lunar New Year on Saturday.
It starts with the first new moon in the lunar calendar and finishes 15 days later with the first full moon. The celebration dates change slightly each Year, falling between late January and mid-February because they are based on the lunar cycles.
The Lunar New Year Of The Dragon Flames Colorful Festivities Across Asian Nations And Communities
Taiwan’s Year of the Dragon celebrations featured appearances by newly elected President Lai Ching-te and Speaker of the Legislature Han Kuo-yu, who represents the opposition Nationalist Party, which favours political union with China.
Tsai stated in her speech that Taiwan is still embroiled in a fight between “freedom and democracy versus authoritarianism” that “not only affects geopolitical stability, but also impacts the restructuring of global supply chains.”
“For the past eight years, we have honoured our commitments and maintained the status quo. We have also demonstrated our determination and strengthened our national defence,” Tsai, who is barred by term limits from seeking a third four-year term, said, referring to the self-governing island democracy’s close economic ties but tense political relations with China, which threatens to invade the island to gain control of Taiwan and its high-tech economy.
The Lunar New Year Of The Dragon Flames Colorful Festivities Across Asian Nations And Communities
Taiwan, China, and other places experienced jammed highways and fully booked airlines as citizens returned home to see relatives or used the nearly one-week holiday to vacation overseas.
Firing bottle rockets and other pyrotechnics is a traditional way to welcome the New Year and clear off unpleasant memories. Children are given red envelopes filled with cash as a token of affection and to give them a leg up in the coming months.
Long lines of automobiles clogged South Korean highways on Saturday as millions of people left the highly populated Seoul capital region to visit relatives across the country for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Visitors donning the country’s colourful traditional “hanbok” flowing robes crowded royal palaces and other tourist attractions. During traditional family ceremonies done in the Southern border town of Paju, groups of ageing North Korean refugees from the ongoing civil war of 1950-53 bowed northward.
The Lunar New Year Of The Dragon Flames Colorful Festivities Across Asian Nations And Communities
The holiday occurred amid rising tensions with North Korea, which has been increasing its tests of weaponry capable of exceeding regional missile defences and issuing provocative threats of nuclear war with the South.
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea began the holiday by thanking South Korean soldiers for their duty along the “frontline barbwires, sea, and sky,” which allowed the nation to enjoy the holidays.
Vietnam also celebrated the Lunar New Year, known as Tet.
Parades and commemorations are also being staged in cities with big Asian populations abroad, particularly in New York and San Francisco.
SOURCE – (AP)
