15 Creative Ways To Decorate For Lunar New Year In 2023
Just about every society and culture around the world will have an annual, festive reason that brings family and friends together; for some, that might be Thanksgiving, and for others, it will be Christmas. For societies which historically followed the lunar calendar, however, that day would be the second new moon after the winter solstice, or the Lunar New Year.
Lunar New Year celebrations last for 15 days (aka the Spring Festival), beginning with family reunions and ending with the Lantern Festival. But it's more than just a time for family, fun, and food, because Lunar New Year is also a time to reset your fortunes. Per The New York Times, many at this time of year take out the old things and bring in the new, personal spaces are cleared of clutter and negative baggage to make way for talismans, lucky charms, and anything else that might invite good luck, good fortune, plenty of wealth, and good health.
Unlike Christmas or Halloween, those who mark the Lunar New Year tend to decorate their homes on New Year's Eve — although it's permitted to start 10 days before (per China Highlights). If you're dressing up your home for the holidays, be prepared for plenty of festive red — which is considered a lucky color — and plenty of fresh flowers, as the Lunar New Year is also celebrated as the start of spring.
1. Fill your home with rabbits
Turn your home into a lucky hutch for rabbits great and small to rule over the Lunar New Year holidays this year. Because 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit, it won't be uncommon to see different rabbit-themed decorations appearing in homes to mark this special occasion.
2. Lay out a Tray of Togetherness
A bright red candy box made either of lacquer or plastic, the Tray of Togetherness comes out once a year and can be laid out on the coffee table to offer lucky snacks and treats in the form of red watermelon seeds (a wish for fertility), gold chocolate coins (wealth), and Mandarin oranges (health), per the CBC.
3. Raise a few red lanterns
Bright red lanterns are easily found in Chinese communities this time of year, so don't hesitate and pick up a few to perk up your own space. Other than being bright and festive, lanterns — particularly those that hang in front of the door — are meant to drive away bad luck.
4. Fill your home with peach blossoms
Romance. Prosperity. Growth. What better way to attract three blessings for the Lunar New Year than placing peach blossoms in a beautiful vase to send your heart's desires for the new year into the universe?
5. Display auspicious door couplets
The practice of hanging couplets — or lines of traditional poetry — on either side of the front door, date back to the Song Dynasty. Written on red paper with black or gold ink, the couplets express the house occupant's wishes for the new year.
6. Adopt a kumquat tree
If there is any plant that invites prosperity into the home, it's the kumquat tree, whose round, golden fruit is seen as attracting prosperity into the home. They are often seen with red packets known as lai see fong or "good fortune envelopes," per the South China Morning Post.
7. Put up an upside-down lucky or fu character
These generously sized squares with the Chinese character for luck, or "fu" are hung upside down in homes, as a way of indicating that the occupant wants luck to rain down on them.
8. Bring in blooming orchids
Orchids may be expensive blooms, but that doesn't keep them from being a popular plant to grace the Lunar New Year home. These beautiful tropical flowers symbolize luxury, fertility, and abundance.
9. Dress your windows with intricate paper cuttings
The practice of using paper to execute Chinese characters and symbols of good luck on sheets of paper has been around for centuries (via UNESCO) and you can add them to your home to celebrate 2023. These paper cuttings can be pasted on doors and windows to express different wishes or desires for the new year.
10. Invite good fortune by displaying lucky bamboo
Also known as "lucky bamboo," the Dracaena is a talisman meant to bring luck into the home during the Lunar New Year. According to West Coast Gardens, it's best to display your Dracaena with pebbles or decorative coins and red ribbon and in a container full of water to enhance its luck-granting properties.
11. Make a money tree
One way to invite good fortune into your home in 2023 is by making a seasonal "money tree." All you need is a small plant with branches to hang lucky red packets from, and you can even attract more luck by making use of kumquat plants and cherry blossom branches.
12. Pick your peonies
What's there not to love about peonies? They're pretty and pink and seen are associated with charm and affection, and during the Lunar New Year, they also become symbols of wealth and prosperity for those who celebrate this important holiday.
13. Hang up a Chinese knot for good luck
These beautiful knots are made using just one piece of cord or rope, and are meant to be good luck talismans. Chinese knots are the perfect decoration for important occasions like Lunar New Year because they have the ability to ward off evil spirits.
14. Display tall festive branches of pussy willow
The pussy willow might be a symbol of Easter in the West, per NPR, but to those who celebrate Lunar New Year, this tall plant also heralds the coming of spring with the promise of prosperity and good fortune.
15. Celebrate with narcissus
Considered one of the most auspicious flowers you can use to welcome the Lunar New Year, the narcissus represents luck and wealth. But perhaps the best part about this blossom is that it isn't just a pretty flower, it smells good, too — the perfect way to decorate your home in 2023 and the Year of the Rabbit.