Firecrackers, festivities, family, fish, and more: learn about Lunar New Year with these 6 podcast episodes
Happy Lunar New Year! We’ve rounded up podcast episodes covering the holiday’s history. For example, you’ll hear about the legend of Nian, a creature that was said to devour humans on New Year’s Day. Since Nian was afraid of fire, the color red, and loud noises, many traditions developed to fend off the beast. People would light firecrackers, place red decorations on their doors, and lanterns would burn. Many of these activities are adapted in today’s celebrations.
On our list, tune into hosts and guests sharing their family traditions, rituals for good luck, celebrations, resolutions, and more. An episode digs into the lunar calendar and zodiac info for this Year of the Rabbit. Learn about the significance of eating certain foods like fish, noodles, and glutenous rice balls on Lunar New Year.
Holistic Spaces | The feng shui podcast by Mindful Design
“Holistic Spaces” releases a Lunar New Year episode every year, hosted by Anjie Cho and Laura Morris. This episode delves into the Year of the Rabbit, shares an overview of this year’s energy, and details different zodiac animals’ qualities. Upcoming episodes will continue the Lunar New Year conversation with suggestions on how each zodiac animal can work with the year’s energy and more.
365 days with mxm toon
In this episode of “365 days with mxm toon,” Asian-American host Maia explored Lunar New Year’s history, which dates back to over 3,500 years ago. Maia shared info on Chinese dynasties, the lunar calendar, the solar solstice, and the equinox. She unpacks how events were planned with the dueling forces of yin and yang to account for human nature and behavior. Maia also dove into the holiday’s myths, legends, traditions, and more in this 11-minute episode.
Bedtime History
“Bedtime History” is for listeners of all ages! Learn about Lunar New Year’s traditions and customs in this 12-minute episode.
The Witchcast Podcast
On this episode of “The Witchcast Podcast,” hosts Emily and Kate explore Lunar New Year, the celebrations, and where it’s celebrated. They’ll explain what a lunisolar calendar is, discuss the Chinese Zodiac, and this year – the Year of the Rabbit. In this episode, Kate also selected a card from her Korean Oracle Four Seasons Hwatu deck.
China Stories
This episode of “China Stories” shares how China ended up celebrating two New Years. Hear what led to China’s attempted ban of its lunar calendar in the early 20th century, that wasn’t entirely successful.
Modern Minorities
Sharon Thony & Raman Sehgal present “Modern Minorities” and host conversations on race and gender in weekly episodes with guests. This episode celebrated Lunar New Year in 2022 with podcaster Lucia Liu (“Rock the Boat,” “Bund to Brooklyn”) and actor/producer Brian Yang (Linsanity, Snakehead, Hawaii 5-0). Brian and Lucia were raised Chinese-American and discussed the similarities and differences between the two holidays. They covered card games, greetings, red envelopes, eating fish, and more in this 54-minute episode.
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