New York City Celebrates Start Of Lunar New Year

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Millions of people around the world rung in the Lunar New Year on Thursday.

As CBS2's Cindy Hsu reported, at a Buddhist temple in Manhattan's Chinatown, the line was out of the door as people waited for a special blessing and to receive a red envelope containing a dollar and an amulet.

PHOTOS: Celebrating Chinese New Year

The celebration is about family and food -- fruit, nuts and fish are considered good luck.

Fourteen-year-old Ashley Mui said her favorite food to celebrate the holiday is noodles, which represent a long life.

There are also some don'ts.

"Definitely do not split a pear," said Nancy Yao Maasbach of the Museum of Chinese in America. "Pears in Chinese have the homonym of division. You could eat the pear on your own. Do not split it and cut it and share it with others."

You also don't want to get your hair cut because you may be cutting away some of your good luck for the new year.

When asked what she does for good luck, 9-year-old Ivy Tam said, "We wear red, but we can't wear black because black will give you bad luck."

And white is not a good idea, either. Black and white are colors associated with death.

The holiday is based on the lunar calendar, so it's celebrated on a different date every year -- and each year is marked with an animal.

"It's the year of the goat, ram or sheep ... ," Maasbach explained. "In Chinese, it's all one word, 'yang.'"

Kevin Wu, 9, said he loves the new year "because I get a lot of money."

Ten-year-old Shenyi Huang said she likes receiving "red envelopes from all my family members all over the world." Those envelopes are filled with money.

While the term "Chinese New Year" is widely used, many other groups -- such as Koreans and Vietnamese -- also celebrate the holiday, also known as Lunar New Year.

The new year is celebrated for 15 days. Chinatown will host its annual parade Sunday.