The Lunar New Year as it’s refered to in most Asian countries marks the beginning of the new year in the lunar calendar, as well as coinciding with the beginning of spring. It is a time for family gatherings, lots of food and “hong baos” (red envelopes with money). There are fireworks and music in almost every community, it is truly a time for celebration. However, if you happen to be a foreigner without close Taiwanese friends then it can seem like a really boring holiday. Shops shut down, cities become quiet and there’s an unneverving stillness everywhere. Leaving you looking for the closest restaurant or the having to finally start cooking while the holiday lasts.
While in school, I used to take the break to plan out a vacation. The first one, since I couldn’t leave the country my friends and I went hiking the beautiful Taroko Gorge in the county of Hualien. It was really cold but the views were worth it. After that, the break became a symbol for exploration, as I could go to other countries in Asia without having to worry about school work. One year we went backpacking through five countries, which was a great adventure but also left us exhausted. We got to meet so many people, try so many wonderful cuisines and go to some quite magical places. Lunar New Year was a time to explore and it was amazing.
After graduation though, the real world wasn’t as flexible as it had been, as the break was a lot shorter than it had been when I was a student. Adventures had to be planned way ahead of time in order to make the most of the time. Leave days had to be asked for and approved of, it lost its sense of spontaneity, but at least I still got to go somewhere. Everything changed with Covid-19, though the Taiwanese government has done an amazing job at keeping us all safe, we can’t really go anywhere as the other countries aren’t doing great all, and visiting them might result in us getting sick. So the break this year was spent re-exploring cities in Taiwan and learning to appreciate them in new ways.
Lunar New Year means a lot to the Taiwanese people, if I were to compare it to a western holiday, it would have to be Christmas. As to them, the holiday is all about family, food, and presents, just like Christmas is to us. If I’ve learned anything during my time here, it has to have been the fact that we are all basically the same, we might look different on the outside but we place value on the same things.
