As a kid, I remember rolling my eyes at some of things that came with the holiday – the deep cleaning, new clothes, and long dinners that lasted forever. Now? I get it.

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is less about fireworks and more about intention. It marks the beginning of the lunar calendar and centers around renewal, family, and prosperity, and as an adult my perspective changed.

Before the new year arrives, the house gets cleaned top to bottom, very detailed. It is symbolic, you are sweeping away last year’s bad luck to make room for what is coming. Here is the twist, once the new year starts, you do not clean for the first few days. This means sweeping, no throwing things out, or anything like that because you do not want to accidentally “sweep away” your fresh luck.

I’m sure you’ve all seen it before, but red becomes the unofficial uniform. Red symbolizes protection and good fortune, which is why you will see it everywhere. Red lanterns, the famous red envelopes filled with money.…even red underwear if your zodiac year is coming up, and yes, that is a thing.

The red envelopes, or hongbao, changes as you get older too. As a kid, you receive them, however, as an adult, you give them. It becomes less about the money and more about passing blessings forward, to this day older people in my family still give them to me.

Now let’s not forget about the food. Every dish carries meaning. Fish symbolizes abundance because the word for fish sounds like surplus in Chinese. Dumplings resemble gold ingots, representing wealth. Noodles are served long and uncut to symbolize longevity. Even the way you eat becomes intentional. You are not just having dinner, you are inviting prosperity into your life.

There are superstitions that still live in the back of my mind no matter how modern life gets:

• Do not wash your hair on New Year’s Day or you might wash away good fortune.
• Do not argue. 
• Do not say negative words. 
• Avoid the number four because it sounds like the word for death. 

Whether you believe every detail or not, the spirit behind it matters. Protect your peace and guard your energy, you want to start the year aligned.

Now, celebrating looks a little different. Maybe it is hosting friends for a dumpling night, or maybe it is wearing something red under a neutral outfit just for yourself. Maybe it is even just calling your parents and actually listening to the stories instead of rushing off the phone. For me, I take my dad out every year to celebrate it with him. 

As an Asian man in today’s world, I appreciate leaning into it instead of distancing from it, it’s grounding. It is my culture, it is part of my identity, and it is discipline wrapped in tradition that I was taught growing up. It is also honoring ancestors while building your own future. Chinese New Year reminds me that success is not accidental, it is all intentional. When the lanterns glow and the fireworks start, it feels less like a party and more like a promise to myself and the future I will have. 

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Just because we don’t make it home for Thanksgiving doesn’t mean we skip the celebration. Instead, we gather with our close friends here on base and celebrate what we’ve come to call Friendsgiving. It’s a potluck-style gathering where each family brings a dish they love, allowing us to share a piece of home with one another, even when we can’t be with our families. The variety of foods always makes the meal feel extra special, blending different traditions into one shared feast.

One of the things we love most about Friendsgiving is that it brings our friends—who have become like family—together. We all love good food, and sitting down to enjoy everyone’s favorite dishes which is a treat. However, it’s more than just the delicious food! We value the time we get to spend with people who understand the unique challenges of military life. After the meal, we usually sit around the fire pit, sipping our favorite drinks (Espresso Martinis are always a hit), laughing, and catching up on life. The warmth of these gatherings is more than just physical; it’s emotional too.

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