TAIPEI, Taiwan —
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — With fireworks, feasts and red wrapping money for children, many Asian nations and communities abroad welcomed the Lunar New Year on Saturday.
The festival begins with the first moon of the lunar calendar and ends 15 days later, with the first full moon. The dates vary slightly each year between late January and mid-February as it is based on lunar cycles.
The festivities kicking off the Year of the Dragon in Taiwan were marked by appearances by newly elected President Lai Ching-te and legislature speaker Han Kuo-yu, who represents the opposition Nationalist Party, which favors rapprochement with China. .
For her part, in her speech, the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-Wen, said that her country faces a continuous conflict between “freedom and democracy versus authoritarianism” that “not only affects geopolitical stability, but also has an impact on the restructuring of global supply chains.”
“The last eight years, we have kept our promises and maintained the status quo. “We have also shown our determination and strengthened our national defense,” said Tsai, who cannot seek a third four-year term in government due to term limitations, referring to the democratic autonomous island’s close economic ties and tense political relations. with China, which threatens to invade the island to fulfill its objective of controlling Taiwan and its high-tech economy.
In Taiwan, China and other areas, highways were jammed and flights were jammed as residents traveled home to visit family or take advantage of the roughly weeklong holiday as a chance to vacation in the country. foreign.
Burning firecrackers and other fireworks is a traditional way to welcome the new year and get rid of bad memories. Children are given red wrappings with money as a token of affection and as help for the following months.
Long lines of cars clogged South Korean highways on Saturday, as millions of people left the densely populated Seoul region, the capital, to celebrate the Lunar New Year with their families across the country.
Royal palaces and other tourist sites were also packed with visitors wearing colorful traditional “hanbok” robes. Groups of North Korean refugees from the still-unresolved 1950-1953 civil war bowed to the north in traditional family rituals in the southern border town of Paju.
The party comes amid rising tensions with North Korea, which has increased its weapons tests aimed at overcoming regional missile defenses and has issued provocative threats of a nuclear conflict with its southern neighbor.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol began the celebration with a message of gratitude to his country’s soldiers, saying that their services along “the barbed wire, sea and sky of the front line” allowed the country to enjoy from the party.
Vietnam also celebrated the Lunar New Year, known in that country as Tet.
In cities with large overseas Asian communities, particularly New York and San Francisco, parades and commemorations are also held.