New Years for you? (1 Viewer)

[litc]

Inspired by @Selfmate
If you don't use only January 1st for New Years celebration, or your family considers smth else

For my culture technically New Years is in mid April, which is common for a lot of South and Southeast Asia

New Year in South and Southeast Asia / April 13, 2026

New Year’s festival in South and Southeast Asia typically starts on April 13 or 14 and lasts for three days. One of its common names is Songkran (in Thai)

anydayguide.com

South & Southeast Solar New Year: Traditions & Festivities

South & Southeast Solar New Year Traditions & Festivities for India Cambodia Thailand Laos and how to celebrate with fellow AAPI

joeydolls.com

Happy South and Southeast Asian New Year! | Significance & Community Events - AAPIC

Happy South and Southeast Asian New Year! The AAC would like to wish those that celebrate a happy and healthy New Year. A Brief Overview During this period, New Year celebrations are held in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, parts of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the...

aapicommission.org

MId-April marks the new year for many Asian countries.

Mid-April marks the new year in large swathes of southeast Asiia and south Asia.

asiacarolinas.org

so this is our New Years

So my family sometimes references this but also the Gregorian calendar as we're American and ocassionally Lunar which confuses the heck out of me

also the Korean age vs international age (obviously we don't use Korean age bc we're not Korean) but what I mean is birth = 1 year old because 1st year of life

But sometimes it's not just your age +1, but it's "year of life" by birth year, so if you were born in 2022 say (no one here), once it becomes 2023 you'd be 2 even before your first birthday international age but then it's your "second year of life" with year being calendar year, but your actual "2nd birthday" non-international age is your birthday in 2022 as you're actually starting your 2nd year of life

It confuses the heck out of me because my mom is born in January, my brother in March (and my dad and me after April ofc)

so in March of the year I was gonna turn 6 when I was 5 I was considered "7" by my grandpa confusing the heck out of me

but I would've been 6 by "year of life not years completed age" by south/southeast asian solar calendar since it wasn't april ... adding on to the year of life age being confusing by itself

so it would've been with the lunar calendar or gregorian with "year of life"

but this was for a festival that had to happen at an odd age before the (april) new year for my cousins who were 12 and 8 international age before their birthday that year (and somehow 13 and 9 with solar calendar south/southeast asia but my grandpa was considering me in lunar calendar?? or gregorian but year of life??

and sometimes my mom considers herself born in the previous year because of solar calendar and new year in april ...

but my brother is march and should be previous year as well if we refer solar calendar but a lot of the time it's spoken like my mom is previous year but my brother calendar year with new year in february meaning lunar calendar ...



so confusing

but we mostly consider new years the 1st because of america it's more the "talk" that confuses me then new years celebrations for lunar and solar new year

at least I'm not born in january to first half of april would've been more confusing using gregorian, lunar and solar alternatively for age and birthyear

@alo tagging u cuz I'm curious but u can dm

 

[Ahsoka]

Some Russians celebrate New New Years on January 1st and Old New Years on January 14th. Im not positive how widespread it is though, I wouldnt be surprised if its a religious thing only (for those who follow an orthodox faith). But I do know that it's something that exists.

 

[litc]

Inspired by @Selfmate
If you don't use only January 1st for New Years celebration, or your family considers smth else

For my culture technically New Years is in mid April, which is common for a lot of South and Southeast Asia

New Year in South and Southeast Asia / April 13, 2026

New Year’s festival in South and Southeast Asia typically starts on April 13 or 14 and lasts for three days. One of its common names is Songkran (in Thai)

anydayguide.com

South & Southeast Solar New Year: Traditions & Festivities

South & Southeast Solar New Year Traditions & Festivities for India Cambodia Thailand Laos and how to celebrate with fellow AAPI

joeydolls.com

Happy South and Southeast Asian New Year! | Significance & Community Events - AAPIC

Happy South and Southeast Asian New Year! The AAC would like to wish those that celebrate a happy and healthy New Year. A Brief Overview During this period, New Year celebrations are held in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, parts of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the...

aapicommission.org

MId-April marks the new year for many Asian countries.

Mid-April marks the new year in large swathes of southeast Asiia and south Asia.

asiacarolinas.org

so this is our New Years

So my family sometimes references this but also the Gregorian calendar as we're American and ocassionally Lunar which confuses the heck out of me

also the Korean age vs international age (obviously we don't use Korean age bc we're not Korean) but what I mean is birth = 1 year old because 1st year of life

But sometimes it's not just your age +1, but it's "year of life" by birth year, so if you were born in 2022 say (no one here), once it becomes 2023 you'd be 2 even before your first birthday international age but then it's your "second year of life" with year being calendar year, but your actual "2nd birthday" non-international age is your birthday in 2022 as you're actually starting your 2nd year of life

It confuses the heck out of me because my mom is born in January, my brother in March (and my dad and me after April ofc)

so in March of the year I was gonna turn 6 when I was 5 I was considered "7" by my grandpa confusing the heck out of me

but I would've been 6 by "year of life not years completed age" by south/southeast asian solar calendar since it wasn't april ... adding on to the year of life age being confusing by itself

so it would've been with the lunar calendar or gregorian with "year of life"

but this was for a festival that had to happen at an odd age before the (april) new year for my cousins who were 12 and 8 international age before their birthday that year (and somehow 13 and 9 with solar calendar south/southeast asia but my grandpa was considering me in lunar calendar?? or gregorian but year of life??

and sometimes my mom considers herself born in the previous year because of solar calendar and new year in april ...

but my brother is march and should be previous year as well if we refer solar calendar but a lot of the time it's spoken like my mom is previous year but my brother calendar year with new year in february meaning lunar calendar ...



so confusing

but we mostly consider new years the 1st because of america it's more the "talk" that confuses me then new years celebrations for lunar and solar new year

at least I'm not born in january to first half of april would've been more confusing using gregorian, lunar and solar alternatively for age and birthyear

@alo tagging u cuz I'm curious but u can dm

(with kpop I also see they switch between using gregorian and lunar for this, meaning sometimes january is year before bc of lunar new year korean age and sometimes it is the year itself)
ex: Yeoreum WJSN is considered 1999 line along with Dayoung and Yeonjung (post February, May and August respectively) but Daehwi (2001 January) is sometimes considered 00 liner enough to be in the 00's performance at music bank


timestamped: junhoe ikon (march 1997) and chanwoo (january 1998) considered same age here, meanwhile dk is january 1997. sometimes junhoe and dk considered same age as 97 line


jay and song as well being february sometimes consider themselves year before as "early" of year before, sometimes not

here (also timestamped) choa being considered 1989 to be same age friends with hyojung to not call her unnie despite not being early enough to be previous year lunar year (march 6th 1990) but hyojung (october 1989) being unnie to hana (feb 2 1990) who is a month older than choa and actually previous year by lunar year


(timestamped) hongseok (april 17th 1994) says he's also born early in the year and wants to be same age friends with jinhwan (february 7, 1994) who had said he's born early in the year (feb 10, 1994 started 1994 lunar year so by lunar year Jay is 1993. Hongseok is a few days after the Asian solar year too)

 

[litc]

Some Russians celebrate New New Years on January 1st and Old New Years on January 14th. Im not positive how widespread it is though, I wouldnt be surprised if its a religious thing only (for those who follow an orthodox faith). But I do know that it's something that exists.

I think I had heard of the january 14th new year, I didn't know it was russian, but maybe it could be common in the region like this south/southeast asia one

although this one is religion too ig, since its based on hindu and buddhist calendars, but muslims in muslim majority countries like bangladesh also have the same new year in april

 

[Selfmate]

it's not that we don't celebrate 1 January - it's that we also celebrate Chinese New Year whenever it is (since it changes depending on the moon)

one thing I will add though is that one's chinese zodiac is dependent on Chinese new year date so like for example this year the date was 10 February 2024 so if you were born prior to this date you would still be a rabbit but if you were born on or afterwards then you'd be a dragon

also where are you from my friend @litc

 

[litc]

it's not that we don't celebrate 1 January - it's that we also celebrate Chinese New Year whenever it is (since it changes depending on the moon)

one thing I will add though is that one's chinese zodiac is dependent on Chinese new year date so like for example this year the date was 10 February 2024 so if you were born prior to this date you would still be a rabbit but if you were born on or afterwards then you'd be a dragon

yeah that's why you inspired my thread

the new years celebration itself isn't confusing for me

but when the calendar year, lunar year and solar year are used alternatively for birth year and age in talking it's confusing for me

and also alternating between ig "asian year of life" vs "international years completed age" on top of that

I don't know the names of the months in lunar or solar calendars either, just when they start

 

[Selfmate]

yeah that's why you inspired my thread

the new years celebration itself isn't confusing for me

but when the calendar year, lunar year and solar year are used alternatively for birth year and age in talking it's confusing for me

and also alternating between ig "asian year of life" vs "international years completed age" on top of that

I don't know the names of the months in lunar or solar calendars either, just when they start

yeah traditionally China had a similar system to SK (or rather SK had a similar system to China) before the Chinese got rid of it and just went with western calendar for ages lol

 

[Ahsoka]

I think I had heard of the january 14th new year, I didn't know it was russian, but maybe it could be common in the region like this south/southeast asia one

although this one is religion too ig, since its based on hindu and buddhist calendars, but muslims in muslim majority countries like bangladesh also have the same new year in april

I know Russian orthodoxy uses the Julian calendar and I'm pretty sure many other Orthodox faiths do too. So I would expect that it's a thing in other areas that have an Orthodox religion as their main religion, though perhaps not all of them. I just listed Russia because I was certain of that one

 

[litc]

yeah traditionally China had a similar system to SK (or rather SK had a similar system to China) before the Chinese got rid of it and just went with western calendar for ages lol

and here are my grandparents alternatively using the bengali calendar and lunar calendar and the "+1 every new year, year of life" age when using gregorian

I know Russian orthodoxy uses the Julian calendar and I'm pretty sure many other Orthodox faiths do too. So I would expect that it's a thing in other areas that have an Orthodox religion as their main religion, though perhaps not all of them. I just listed Russia because I was certain of that one

If you're interested enough in calendars would be a great random Vikki.random.info.she.knows.a.lot.about.and.you.don't. thread

 

[Ahsoka]

and here are my grandparents alternatively using the bengali calendar and lunar calendar and the "+1 every new year, year of life" age when using gregorian

If you're interested enough in calendars would be a great random Vikki.random.info.she.knows.a.lot.about.and.you.don't. thread

It would be kind of interesting to learn about a bunch of calendars that are still in use today

 

[litc]

It would be kind of interesting to learn about a bunch of calendars that are still in use today

just because of you I checked this

Novy God (Russian New Year) — January 14, 2027 | National Today

Novy God, or Russian New Year, is celebrated on January 14. This unique tradition offers a second chance to ring in the New Year with special cultural festivities.

nationaltoday.com

BUT THIS IS WHY I NEED TO STOP TAKING ASIAN CLASSES IN SCHOOL (currently literature, previous one was religion) I think of something because of the class that isn't relevant to the assignment so research and post on kpopsource where it's somewhat relevant

 

[Selfmate]

and here are my grandparents alternatively using the bengali calendar and lunar calendar and the "+1 every new year, year of life" age when using gregorian

If you're interested enough in calendars would be a great random Vikki.random.info.she.knows.a.lot.about.and.you.don't. thread

so I take it by now with all the +1's you're a boomer like me!!! lol

 

[Ahsoka]

just because of you I checked this

Novy God (Russian New Year) — January 14, 2027 | National Today

Novy God, or Russian New Year, is celebrated on January 14. This unique tradition offers a second chance to ring in the New Year with special cultural festivities.

nationaltoday.com

BUT THIS IS WHY I NEED TO STOP TAKING ASIAN CLASSES IN SCHOOL (currently literature, previous one was religion) I think of something because of the class that isn't relevant to the assignment so research and post on kpopsource where it's somewhat relevant

Yeah most of that matches up with my experience, though I didn’t know it used to be in April. I do know some stuff about why it ends up being the way it is, not just why Christmas is on the 7th and why there’s a second new years, but also why January 1st is such a big holiday (basically because the Soviet Union wanted to eliminate religion, so Christmas traditions were transferred to New Years). It does make me miss Oliver salad, I haven’t had it in a long time actually

 

[alo]

about general new year - yes bengalis celebrate it both on jan 1st and mid-april (almost always on 15th april gregorian year wise idk why). the hindu calendar, much like the chinese calendar, is a lunisolar calendar - which is why our festivals mostly line up around the same time wrt the gregorian calendar (be it the chinese and sk lunar new year, holi, pujo, etc). if we used a pure lunar calendar, like the islamic calendar, it would never really line up with the gregorian calendar. it's why ramadan as a month keeps happening in different times of the year, the eids happen in different times of the year, etc. bangladesh probably celebrates new years around mid-april every year bc being culturally bengali > being muslim for them (though idk you'd know more about this than i do lit)

however i've never really counted my age that way??? nor has any bengali i personally know - family or otherwise. my friends' domestic helps do count age in a similar way, but it's kinda different, in the sense that you add a year on your calendar birthday, but you are a year older than you'd count a la gregorian (say, i'm 18 rn, they'd say "19 chal raha hai" which mean 19 cholche in bangla but they don't speak bangla obv). they're from different parts of the country so irdk if it's region specific?? but it's not got to do with hindu tradition at all, my friends are from a christian family (neither they nor their parents practise though), and their domestic help are muslim and christian

(with kpop I also see they switch between using gregorian and lunar for this, meaning sometimes january is year before bc of lunar new year korean age and sometimes it is the year itself)
ex: Yeoreum WJSN is considered 1999 line along with Dayoung and Yeonjung (post February, May and August respectively) but Daehwi (2001 January) is sometimes considered 00 liner enough to be in the 00's performance at music bank


timestamped: junhoe ikon (march 1997) and chanwoo (january 1998) considered same age here, meanwhile dk is january 1997. sometimes junhoe and dk considered same age as 97 line


jay and song as well being february sometimes consider themselves year before as "early" of year before, sometimes not

here (also timestamped) choa being considered 1989 to be same age friends with hyojung to not call her unnie despite not being early enough to be previous year lunar year (march 6th 1990) but hyojung (october 1989) being unnie to hana (feb 2 1990) who is a month older than choa and actually previous year by lunar year


(timestamped) hongseok (april 17th 1994) says he's also born early in the year and wants to be same age friends with jinhwan (february 7, 1994) who had said he's born early in the year (feb 10, 1994 started 1994 lunar year so by lunar year Jay is 1993. Hongseok is a few days after the Asian solar year too)

early year actually has more to do with the school year than the "lunar" new year afaik (although obv your zodiac has got entirely to do with the lunar new year). i'll quote a comment i once left about this

i don't know about any concrete examples other than those already mentioned, but (just a theory though) i've heard a common way for people to fake their ages is to make them "early birthday" kids

the korean school year begins in march, so a kid born in january or february has the choice to either go to school in the same year as other kids born the same year as them... or be an "early birthday" kid, and go to school with kids born the year before them. so someone born in say january 1995 could have gone to school with other 95ers, or with 94ers. now, thing is, if you are batchmates with 94ers, it would be kinda awkward to see them as older. in a social sense, you're kinda treated as one of them. so if our january 1995 born person went to school with 94ers, someone born in say july 1995 would typically use honorifics with the january 95er, as they would with any 94er. so if one was to make an idol seem younger, but the others around them (say, the groupmates) have the habit of calling them unnie/hyung, a convenient way to do that without forcing their groupmates to change habits is to change their birthday to jan/feb of the year following their actual birth year

as i said, this is just a theory - and tbh idk how much validity this has, because management can be pretty powerful in getting idols to change their habits. take for example pentagon's maknae line - all 98ers. they are all actually very close in age (yuto is 4 days older than kino, kino is 4 days older than wooseok), but while yuto and wooseok went to school with 98ers, kino went to school with 97ers. so predebut both wooseok and yuto (who, mind you, is 4 days older) called kino hyung, until the staff made them stop just before their debut because it was too silly.

in a different context ofc, but you get the logic. i'll take myself as an example relevant to this thread though. i was born on 2nd feb 2006. chinese new year in 2006 was on jan 29th. so i'm actually very comfortably a dog and not a rooster. however, if i were korean, i could have gone to school with 05ers and not 06ers purely by virtue of being born in the gregorian calendar month of february. then i'd consider 05ers as my peers, and 06ers would typically call me unnie/noona. daehwi too went to school a year early. out of other idols i'm familiar with - jihyo went a year early, so she doesn't call jeongyeon sana or momo unnie (mina too went to school a year early in japan, so she too doesn't use honorifics). gunwook went a year early, but he calls ricky and gyuvin hyung. saerom went a year early, so hayoung and gyuri call her unnie. snsd sooyoung is early 90, even the dancer aiki (who is 89) consideres her as someone the same age. etc

 

[litc]

about general new year - yes bengalis celebrate it both on jan 1st and mid-april (almost always on 15th april gregorian year wise idk why). the hindu calendar, much like the chinese calendar, is a lunisolar calendar - which is why our festivals mostly line up around the same time wrt the gregorian calendar (be it the chinese and sk lunar new year, holi, pujo, etc). if we used a pure lunar calendar, like the islamic calendar, it would never really line up with the gregorian calendar. it's why ramadan as a month keeps happening in different times of the year, the eids happen in different times of the year, etc. bangladesh probably celebrates new years around mid-april every year bc being culturally bengali > being muslim for them (though idk you'd know more about this than i do lit)

however i've never really counted my age that way??? nor has any bengali i personally know - family or otherwise. my friends' domestic helps do count age in a similar way, but it's kinda different, in the sense that you add a year on your calendar birthday, but you are a year older than you'd count a la gregorian (say, i'm 18 rn, they'd say "19 chal raha hai" which mean 19 cholche in bangla but they don't speak bangla obv). they're from different parts of the country so irdk if it's region specific?? but it's not got to do with hindu tradition at all, my friends are from a christian family (neither they nor their parents practise though), and their domestic help are muslim and christian


early year actually has more to do with the school year than the "lunar" new year afaik (although obv your zodiac has got entirely to do with the lunar new year). i'll quote a comment i once left about this

in a different context ofc, but you get the logic. i'll take myself as an example relevant to this thread though. i was born on 2nd feb 2006. chinese new year in 2006 was on jan 29th. so i'm actually very comfortably a dog and not a rooster. however, if i were korean, i could have gone to school with 05ers and not 06ers purely by virtue of being born in the gregorian calendar month of february. then i'd consider 05ers as my peers, and 06ers would typically call me unnie/noona. daehwi too went to school a year early. out of other idols i'm familiar with - jihyo went a year early, so she doesn't call jeongyeon sana or momo unnie (mina too went to school a year early in japan, so she too doesn't use honorifics). gunwook went a year early, but he calls ricky and gyuvin hyung. saerom went a year early, so hayoung and gyuri call her unnie. snsd sooyoung is early 90, even the dancer aiki (who is 89) consideres her as someone the same age. etc

Ah wait I never thought we used lunar, i thought South and Southeast Asia we’re using solar (or rather lunisolar instead)

funny you mention that, my aunt got invited to an eid dinner by her Muslim Bangladeshi friend, Bengali’s all celebrating together regardless of religion

Oh I don’t but my grandpa was considering me 7 when I was 5 in March of the year I’d turn 6 And my mom does it too with the April one like not necessarily age + 1 but year and all

yeah I don’t think it’s religious I think it’s cultural

I mean were pretty Hindu-Buddhist not even Hindu

Ah the early year thing makes sense

that’s why btob Chang sub was calling suho hyung when he’s 3 months older than suho

and when Minho didn’t wanna call suho hyung because they’re the same age and friends and he was gonna debut with shinee and Suho got upset because he was ahead in school or smth

My mom went “early” like that too as a January birthday so ig that’s why she at least says it that way

and ofc schools in Korea start in March and end in February whereas schools in the US start in august/September and end in may/June (we def have less days of school than you guys too, only 180, less than half the year)

And in India April start March end

so typical birthdays for a grade being different makes sense too

about your school peers age thing you said I’ll ask you later in dm