Harvest & New Year

How different cultures mark this milestone

The rites below are not exhaustive — every tradition has its own variations and every family makes its own choices — but they cover the most widely observed forms across the world's living religious and cultural traditions.

• Lunar New Year (China, Vietnam, Korea) — the first new moon of the lunisolar calendar.
• Nowruz (Iran, Central Asia) — the spring equinox new year.
• Rosh Hashanah (Jewish) — the autumn new year.
• Enkutatash (Ethiopia) — the new year at the end of the rainy season.
• Songkran / Pi Mai / Choul Chnam Thmey / Thingyan (Southeast Asia) — the April water-festival new year.
• Pongal / Makar Sankranti (Tamil / Indian) — the mid-January harvest and solar new year.
• Onam (Kerala) — the August harvest welcoming home the legendary king Mahabali.
• Mid-Autumn Festival (China, Vietnam) / Chuseok (Korea) — the harvest moon festival.
• Sukkot (Jewish) — the seven-day autumn harvest of dwelling in temporary shelters.
• Thanksgiving (USA, Canada) — the secularised harvest festival of the late autumn.

How to send the right card

New-year cards are arrival-dated — they need to land before the day. For diaspora recipients, include the date in both calendars. Keep the verse forward-looking; harvest and new-year cards are about what is to come rather than what has been. A small, hand-written line at the bottom of an otherwise printed card is the form most people prize.

For more practical notes, see the CardVerse card etiquette guide and the printing guide.

Related cultural holidays

Several of the world cultural holidays in the CardVerse directory carry the same milestone weight. Browse the regional pages to find them in their full traditional context: