BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations General Assembly recently adopted a resolution designating the Spring Festival (Lunar New Year) as a United Nations holiday. Dai Bing, chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations, said that the UN General Assembly resolution designating the Spring Festival as a UN holiday has been warmly welcomed and enthusiastically supported by UN Member States and UN Secretariat staff. The Spring Festival has a long history, originating in China, but has spread all over the world, becoming one of the most important festivals of the year in many countries, and some countries have included it as an official holiday.
Vietnam: Long Tet holiday.
The most important traditional festival in Vietnam is Tet Festival. Traditionally, the festival lasts from the 23rd day of the lunar month to the 7th day of the first lunar month. However, when Vietnamese people enter the lunar month, they will start to buy New Year's goods and sacrificial supplies, such as food, fruits, refreshments, incense and candles, and also clean up, buy New Year paintings, paste Spring Festival couplets, arrange flowers, make new clothes, etc., to prepare for the Spring Festival. Flowers are an indispensable element of the Vietnamese New Year: in the north, there are peach blossoms, while in the south, yellow plum blossoms are arranged. On Chinese New Year's Eve, bells and drums sound in unison and firecrackers are endless.
Tet is a statutory holiday in Vietnam, with a 5-day holiday, counting the weekend, people can have 7 days, up to 9 days of long vacation, no need to take a holiday.
In Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, a man hangs red lanterns on a tree to welcome the Chinese New Year. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Di.
South Korea: I don't sleep on the first day of junior high school.
The first day of the first lunar month, also known as the Lunar New Year, is the Korean New Year, also known as the first day of the year and the first day of the year, and is one of the most important festivals of the year in Korea.
Since 1989, South Korea** has designated the Chinese New Year (the first day of the first lunar month) as the Spring Festival and decided to make the New Year.
Three. 10. The first and second days of the first lunar month are designated as statutory holidays, a total of three days. As in China, most Koreans go home to reunite with their loved ones during the Chinese New Year. During this year's Lunar New Year holiday, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also implemented inter-departmental coordinated special traffic measures to ensure the safety of the public.
"Ritual and New Year's Worship" is the core content of the Korean Spring Festival. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, you can't sleep lazily, so you have to get up early in the morning to worship. Above the main room of the house, there are portraits of ancestors. There are all kinds of offerings on the table, such as "jujube, chestnut, pear and persimmon", "rice cake slice soup", etc., and the placement of the offerings is also very particular, the more common ones are "fish east meat west", "head east tail west", "red east and white west", "raw east and cooked west", "left rice and right soup" and so on. South Korea also has the custom of "pressing the New Year money", unlike the Chinese who think that red represents festivity, most Koreans choose to use white envelopes to hold the New Year money.
People buy Chinese New Year goods at the Yeongcheon Traditional Market in Seoul, South Korea. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Jingchang.
Thailand: Traditions continue from generation to generation.
There are many overseas Chinese in Thailand, and the local Chinese community has always maintained the traditional customs of the New Year. Under the influence of the older generation of overseas Chinese, the culture and customs that have been passed down from generation to generation have made Tet a very important festival in Thailand. Cleaning, adding new clothes, pasting couplets, placing Tang costumes, buying pastries, preparing New Year's meals, worshipping ancestors, or visiting Chinatowns and shopping malls with a strong New Year's flavor, and going to temples to pray for blessings are all ways for Thais to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Chen Guoguo, a Thai teacher whose ancestral home is in the Hakka region of Guangdong, said that the UN General Assembly's decision to establish the Lunar New Year as a holiday reflects the importance that the international community attaches to China and Chinese culture.
In the past, Western festivals became the world's festivals, but now the international community is increasingly seeing and recognizing the importance of Chinese and Eastern culture to human civilization, which reflects the mutual respect and understanding between the Eastern and Western worlds at the cultural level, and is a good start to promote people-to-people ties and cultural integration between the East and the West. ”
A vendor places Chinese New Year ornaments at a stall in Chinatown, Bangkok, Thailand. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Laheng).
Panama: A national celebration.
In 2022 and 2023, Panama will hold two consecutive "Happy New Year" celebrations, which are officially initiated by Panama** as a national Spring Festival celebration, jointly organized by the Chinese Embassy in Panama and the Panamanian Ministry of Culture, the National Tourism Administration and the Chinese Ethnic Committee under the Ministry of Social Development. A series of Chinese New Year celebrations, such as the Chinese New Year Film Festival and the Dragon Boat Race, will also be held in cultural squares across Panama.
When attending the celebration of the 2023 "Happy New Year", Panamanian Deputy José Carriço said that the friendship between China and Brazil has a long history, and since the first batch of Chinese came to Pakistan 170 years ago to build the Transoceanic Railway, the Chinese have made important contributions to promoting the development of Panama and cultural exchanges between the two countries, and bringing the two countries closer together.
It is understood that about one-fifth of the world's population celebrates the Spring Festival in different forms. Every year, the Secretary-General of the United Nations issues a message to extend festive greetings and best wishes to China and all the people of all countries celebrating the Spring Festival. Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have set up public holidays during the Chinese New Year according to local conditions. Chinese communities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and other countries will hold various forms of celebrations, attracting many local residents to participate in the joyful and peaceful atmosphere of the festival and express their best wishes for the new year. (Reporter: Sun.)
1. Feng Yasong, Chen Jiabao, Chen Haoga, Hou Hongbo, Ma Xiao;Editors: Ma Xiao, Jing Jing, Du Yuge).