When the lunar new year arrives tomorrow, Hawai'i's Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese communities will observe the holiday in distinct ways — from having a Korean rice cake soup called ttokkuk for breakfast or enjoying sweet Chinese gau, to paying homage to Tao Quan, the Vietnamese kitchen god. But at its very core, the holiday honors ancestors and celebrates family. We take a look at how these three cultures will usher in the Year of the Ox and welcome a year of good fortune.

CHINESE

Lisa Wai Hah Wong has fond childhood memories of performing lion dances to usher in Chinese New Year.

The dental assistant from Kaimuki, now 26, was about 8 or 9 years old and part of a kung fu club. During performances throughout Chinatown, Wong either served as the playful tail or proudly banged a gong or cymbals.

"It was really fun," said Wong, this year's Narcissus Queen.

Lunar new year is among the major holidays on the Chinese calendar and is very significant to the community, said Henry Lee, executive director of the United Chinese Society of Hawai'i.

"It symbolizes a new beginning — looking forward to another year of prosperity, good luck and all those things," Lee said.

The holiday is observed in many ways, such as by handing out red envelopes called li see filled with money for good luck, hanging good-luck sayings on red paper known as waichun and enjoying sweet treats such as gau.

"Different families have different traditions," Lee said.

Before the new year, Chinese households are often thoroughly cleaned or swept as a way to send off the old year and bad fortune, and to welcome the new year and good luck.

During the holiday, families honor their ancestors and elders, and ask for blessings in the new year, either in the privacy of their homes or at temple services, Lee said.

Festivities also include watching a lion dance — whether at a parade, community celebration or temple — which symbolizes protection and luck. The lion dance performance is often accompanied by firecrackers, believed to drive away bad luck.

And the holiday wouldn't be complete without traditional foods, such as jai (vegetarian stew), jin doi (a doughnut-like treat) and jook (thick rice soup).

Chinese New Year has always been a thrilling time for Wong and her family.

"It corresponds with the firecrackers that ring in the new year, the lion dances, the colors ... just the excitement and happy feeling in the air," Wong said.

KOREAN

As a child growing up in Korea, Blue Kim remembers celebrating lunar new year — or Seollal — with gatherings of loved ones and delicious fare.

Although Kim, 37, left the country when he was 11 years old, he and his family still celebrate the holiday much the same way.

"It's comparable to what people (here) would do on Thanksgiving," said Kim, a translator and Honolulu resident. "It's traditionally a family get-together."

Seollal (pronounced suh-LAL) — also spelled Sulnal or Sol-nal — literally translates into New Year's Day. In Korea, most people typically observe Seollal by traveling back to their hometowns to perform ceremonial rites, paying their respects to ancestors, said Michael Yim, who was born in Korea and educated in Hawai'i.

"So the day before and after Seollal are also designated holidays," said Yim, operations manager at KBFD-TV, which televises Korean dramas in Hawai'i.

With a focus on family and customs, the holiday involves children wearing traditional outfits called hanbok and bowing to their elders. In addition to wishing each other good fortune and prosperity, family members exchange gifts. Children typically receive "lucky money," candy and fruit, Yim said.

In Hawai'i, especially among the younger generations, such Seollal traditions are not commonly practiced.

"As a general rule, there isn't a formal celebration on the part of most people of my generation and younger," Kim said.

But certain customs, especially those revolving around food, are still celebrated on the holiday, such as having ttokkuk (also duk kook) for breakfast, Yim said.

The rice-cake soup is the most representative dish for New Year's Day and has a special meaning.

"Koreans (traditionally) do not count the age on the basis of their birthday, but on the basis of every New Year's Day," Yim said. "When you have a dish of ttokkuk, you are one year older."

For Kim and his family, the soup is among the holiday fare, along with Korean-style rice cakes called dduck or thuck, he said. "It's about family and food," Kim said.

VIETNAMESE

Each year during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, Evelyn Bui counts her blessings.

A Vietnamese immigrant, Bui is producer of Vietnam Television in Hawai'i, among the organizers of last year's "Freedom Boat" exhibition. The exhibit celebrated the journeys of more than half a million refugees who voyaged in rickety vessels on the Pacific Ocean to escape Vietnam's communist rule during the Vietnam War.

"On this special day, I'm reminded of how free we are in this country," said Bui, 53, of Waikiki.

Tet, one of the most celebrated holidays among Vietnamese, lasts for several days — sometimes up to 10 days.

"For our culture, Tet means everything new," said Cam-Tu Trinh, adviser of the Vietnamese Club at McKinley High School.

For Tet, families usually clean their homes to make them look new, and they wear new clothes and shoes.

"The belief is new things will bring good luck," Trinh said.

The Vietnamese are also mindful of their actions and associations on New Year's Day — everything should symbolize good fortune — because it will determine their luck for the rest of the year.

Families pray to ancestors to celebrate the new year with them. Children pay respects to their elders by wishing them good luck with crossed arms in exchange for li xi, or red envelopes of money, which also represent luck. And everyone enjoys typical holiday foods like mut, which are sweet treats made from fruit.

Another tradition is to pay homage to Tao Quan, the kitchen god, who reports both good and bad deeds to "the bigger God," Trinh said.

There are other Tet customs, such as decorating homes with yellow flowers called hoa mai or planting in front of homes a New Year's tree called cay neu and decorating it with red paper.

Tet is an opportunity to perpetuate the Vietnamese culture among younger generations, both Bui and Trinh emphasized.

One of the highlights of Tet for Bui is seeing Vietnamese men, women and children donning colorful ao dai, traditional long dresses worn with pants.

"Every New Year's, when I can see these very beautiful (clothes), they make me feel so proud of the Vietnamese people," Bui said.