The Chinese New Year is the oldest and most important traditional festival in Chinese culture, a joyous occasion for family reunion and bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. Whether in China or abroad, the Chinese people attach great importance to this holiday. People often overcome various difficulties to return home and reunite with their families. Every household is busy hanging lanterns, pasting couplets, posting lucky words, and setting off firecrackers, creating a festive atmosphere to warmly welcome the New Year.
According to Chinese traditional customs, on special days such as the first and fifteenth days of the Lunar New Year, people have the habit of going to temples to burn incense, pray for blessings and safety. This tradition is particularly well maintained by Chinese in Southeast Asia, and this year is no exception.
With the arrival of the Year of the Fire Horse in 2026, tens of thousands of Chinese people both domestically and internationally flocked to local temples to burn incense and pray for blessings on the first day of the New Year (February 17th), some even started on the eve of the Lunar New Year.
Chinese people have experienced various political movements after the Communist Party came to power, and under the atheistic education, many no longer believe in karma. Although worshippers mainly seek secular material gains and utilitarian benefits when they burn incense and pray for blessings in temples, they still cannot completely sever the connection between traditional Chinese culture deeply rooted in the hearts of the common people and the heavenly gods.
In recent years, China has been ravaged by epidemics, the economy continues to deteriorate, many industries are on the decline, and the unemployment rate is soaring. Many people feel deeply puzzled about the future, hoping for divine blessings to overcome difficulties, seeking personal peace, health, and happiness. Some even proclaim, “Between going to work and advancing oneself, choose to burn incense; between seeking help from others and self-improvement, choose to seek help from the Buddha”.
In fact, the culture of worshiping in China has a long history, and offering blessings during the Lunar New Year is a continuation of the traditional worship culture. Traditional worship mainly expresses reverence, gratitude to the heavens, self-reflection on one’s own faults, and making wishes. Making wishes involves promising to do more good deeds, refrain from bad actions, accumulate virtues, in order to truly receive blessings from the divine.