Lunar Festival: Our City's Great Triumph

新年快樂! Happy Lunar New Year! I hope you're ready for some serious partying. On Earth, we want "out with the old and in with the new," whereas in Azeroth, revelers celebrate "their triumph of many thousands of years ago, when an alliance of good races defeated a terrible evil called the Burning Legion!" The Lunar Festival runs from January 22 to February 11 this year, coinciding with its inspiring holidays, the Lunar New Year and Lantern Festival.

This new year celebration occurs in either January or February and is based on the phases of the moon. The lunar calendar is made up of 29.5 day months, and is 11 days shorter than the 365 day calendar. This is paired with the Chinese solar calendar, which is divided into 24 different segments or climates and focuses on how seasonal changes affect agricultural activity.

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In preparation for the new year, people begin cleaning and throwing out old things in mid-December - rather than spring cleaning, this massive undertaking occurs in winter. Decorations such as prints of poetry, door gods, and other popular auspicious imagery are displayed along with the characters for "spring" (春) and "fortune" (福). These characters may be hung upside-down, as the word for "inverted" is a homonym for "arrive." The many homonyms in Chinese make for lots of word association - more on that in later sections! As it is considered unlucky to use a cooking fire during the new year, families will prepare the meal beforehand. They will also decorate the household altar with oranges, spring rice, flowers, and New Year cake as a fresh offering for gods returning to Earth.

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The New Year's Eve meal features many foods that are either linguistically or physically auspicious. Vegetables, chicken, clams, fish/shrimp/meatballs, and dumplings are common staples. Fish, being a homonym for surplus, is often present but not eaten, or at least finished. It wouldn't do to eat all of the coming year's surplus in one night! Families gather to share this important meal, and places are set for those who cannot attend. Typically, a married couple will spend this day with the husband's family and visit the wife's family on the second or third day of the new year. Staying up all night talking signifies long life for older relatives, and as such this evening is also called Longevity Night.

While Earthlings are honoring their familial ancestors, Azerothians are paying their respects to the night elf, tauren, taunka, and earthen warriors who fought against the Burning Legion. The main celebration takes place in Moonglade, and players can get a free teleport there from the introductory quest. Although this holiday is time-consuming in-game, it's extremely straight-forward. Players can shoot off fireworks, buy a plethora of firework and tailoring patterns, defeat a seasonal world boss, and visit every last Elder on the planet. The initial quests reward Cenarion Circle reputation, but visiting the Elders will give you faction reputation and the holiday currency Coin of Ancestry.

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Eight hours after visiting an Elder, they will mail you a Lucky Red Envelope. In addition to clogging your mailbox, these may contain either an Elder's Moonstone or a Lucky Rocket Cluster. Since the dearly departed don't typically send letters on Earth, married couples and older relatives give red packets containing even amounts of coins or bills to children and unmarried adults on New Year's Day. If someone requests a red packet, it's bad luck not to give one. There are even some kids and teens who use the joke greeting "Congratulations and be prosperous, now give me a red envelope!"

The New Year lasts for 15 days, finally culminating in the Lantern Festival which is sometimes called the "second new year." The first day of the new moon is for being together with family, honoring one's ancestors, and welcoming the gods back to Earth. The second day is for prayer, to ancestors and gods alike. On the third and fourth days, families visit the wife's home. The fifth day is for staying inside, as it's bad luck to venture out. It's also the day to welcome the God of Wealth. During the sixth through twelfth days, people visit friends, families, and temples. When visiting, it's important to bring a small gift for the host, and the host should reciprocate with sweets for their guest. Businesses should be open by this time. The thirteenth day is for a simple meal of congee and mustard greens, and the fourteenth is for preparing for the upcoming Lantern Festival.

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Finally, the fifteenth day is for parades and dragon dances, in addition to spectacular fireworks and lantern festivals. Annual events include the Taipei Lantern Festival, the Tainan Yanshui Fireworks Display, and the Taipei Pinghsi Sky Lanterns. Temples display lanterns with paintings of birds, famous historical figures, and legends. Some lanterns feature riddles for observers to puzzle out. Lanterns are carried, floated on water, and released into the sky. Noisy fireworks are released late into the night, although the explosives have caused enough physical and property damage to warrant firecracker bans. Players can drop 70 Coins of Ancestry on a faction-specific Festival or Lunar Lantern of their very own, but be prepared to spend some serious gold to get the other faction's off of the auction house!

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Players can purchase Festival Dumplings, the in-game equivalent of the special tang yuan dumplings eaten during the Lantern Festival, for 1 Coin of Ancestry. The vendor also sells festive clothing, a fireworks pack, and Elune's Candle. It's common for people to buy new clothes and shoes, or get a haircut in order to ring in the new year right, so be sure to pick up a Festival Dress or Suit! These are based on the cheongsam and what appears to be a tang jacket and pants. If you really want to dress the part, be sure to have a tailor make you the lucky red version. Elune's Candle has 88 charges, as the number 8 is lucky, due to being a homonym of "prosperity."

You can bring your bedecked self to Stormwind, Thunderbluff, Booty Bay, or Moonglade on New Year's Day to enjoy holiday celebrations, or wait for the big event at Lake Elune'ara on the last day. In addition to fireworks, players should notice even more lanterns on display for this event. Before then, high level players should do their part to put Omen back to rest. Once a demi-god blessed by Elune, Omen was injured in the fight against the Burning Legion. Although he once wandered Azeroth, offering help, luck, and advice to those he encountered, he was driven mad by fel nightmares and went on a murderous rampage. He was blinded and bound by moonlight in the town of Nighthaven, and each year wakes again to terrorize Moonglade. Defeating him will reward the player with Elune's Lantern, which can be used to make Elune Stones all year round.

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Omen is based on the legendary monster known as Nian. (In the Chinese version of WoW, the NPC is simply called Nian.) A ferocious creature with the body of a bull and the head of a lion, Nian came down from the mountains to raid villages for food in the thin winter months. One day, an old man suggested that they use loud noises, fire, and the bright color red to scare Nian away from their village. The next time Nian came to devour the villagers, they assaulted him with loud firecrackers, burning bonfires, and scarlet papers hung on the buildings. In some stories, Nian is simply chased away, while in others the old man reveals himself to be a deity and claims Nian as his mount. (Sadly, players cannot do the same.)

There are 17 current achievements for a total of 190 achievement points in this holiday. The meta achievement rewards the title "Elder" and counts towards What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been. You can find a guide to completing all of the elders quests here at WoW Insider, and Wowhead's holiday guide here.