Happy Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival. It starts at the beginning of Spring. It is one of the three most important Chinese festivals.

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese use a lunar calendar, therefore the date of the Spring Festival changes each year. It takes place at some time during the end of January or the beginning of February.

This year it falls on February 7, 2008 and is the Year of the Rat.

People born in the Year of the Rat are said to be charming, hard-working, passionate, and practical.

The Chinese calendar has a 12 year cycle and each year is named after an animal. People born in each of these years are said to have certain characteristics.

The origin of the New Year Festival can be traced back thousands of years, involving a series of colorful legends and traditions. One of the most famous legends is Nian, an extremely cruel and ferocious beast that the ancients believed would devour people on New Year's Eve. To keep Nian away, red-paper couplets are pasted on doors, torches are lit, and firecrackers are set off throughout the night, because Nian is said to fear the color red, the light of fire, and loud noises. Early the next morning, as feelings of triumph and renewal fill the air at successfully keeping Nian away for another year, the most popular greeting heard is gong si (congratulations).

To prepare for the New Year, Chinese clean their houses (it is believed the cleaning sweeps away bad luck). They also repay any money they owe, buy new clothes, and may even get their hair cut.

They decorate their houses with with red paper deocorations (spring couplets) and signs that wish peace and luck for the coming year.

Spring couplets are paper scrolls and squares inscribed with blessings and auspicious words, such as "good fortune," "wealth," "longevity," and "springtime." The paper squares are usually pasted upside down, because the Mandarin word for "upside down," dao, is a homonym of the word "arrival." Thus, the paper squares represent the "arrival" of spring and the "coming" of prosperous times.

On New Year's Eve family members who are no longer living at home make a special effort to return home for reunion and share a big family dinner. Special foods are served such as hot pot, dumplings or fish. After dinner the adults give the children hong bao (red envelopes containing lucky money), and they also try to stay up all night to welcome the New Year, as it was long believed that by doing so on New Year's Eve, their parents would live a longer life.

Some families even hold religious ceremonies after midnight to welcome the God of the New Year into their homes, and set off fireworks to scare away evil spirits.

One of the first things to be done on New Year's morning, is offering ritual homage to one's ancestors. Reverence is then paid to the gods, followed by younger family members paying their respects to their living elders. New clothes are worn, and visits are made to friends, neighbors, and relatives to exchange good wishes of gong xi fa cai (which means "congratulations and prosperity"). As an occasion for reconciliation, it's a time when old grudges are cast aside amidst an atmosphere of warmth and friendliness.

The second day of the New Year Festival is the day that married daughters return to their parents' home. If she is a newlywed, her husband must accompany her and bring gifts for her family.

Certain negative superstitions and taboos at this time have never quite lost their force. For example, people believe it is unlucky to sweep the floor during the first five days of the Lunar New Year, because one might accidentally sweep one's good luck and wealth out of the house.

Bad language and talk of death are severely frowned upon. If a dish is broken, it is vital to say suei suei ping an (which means "peace throughout the year") as quickly as possible.

Joss sticks and altar candles must be kept burning day and night to encourage longevity; and in some households, knives and scissors are put away so that no one will accidentally cut the "thread of good luck" in the year to come.

A few of these superstitions and rituals have a spiritual aspect to them. At the stroke of midnight, the doors to the temples are thrown wide open and people surge forward in an attempt to be the first to place their incense sticks into the censer, as another long-standing tradition states that the first person to do so will be blessed with good luck throughout the coming year.

The Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve dinner is the most important meal of the year. The notion of getting together with the family will always lie at the heart of Lunar New Year celebrations.

~ Gong xi fa cai ~

~ Congratulations and Prosperity ~

Animal	Branch	Dates
鼠 Rat	子 Zi	February 19, 1996	February 7, 2008
牛 Ox	丑 Chou	February 7, 1997	January 26, 2009
虎 Tiger	寅 Yin	January 28, 1998	February 14, 2010
兔 Rabbit	卯 Mao	February 16, 1999	February 3, 2011
龍 Dragon	辰 Chen	February 5, 2000	January 23, 2012
蛇 Snake	巳 Si	January 24, 2001	February 10, 2013
馬 Horse	午 Wu	February 12, 2002	January 31, 2014
羊 Sheep	未 Wei	February 1, 2003	February 19, 2015
猴 Monkey	申 Shen	January 22, 2004	February 8, 2016
雞 Rooster	酉 You	February 9, 2005	January 28, 2017
狗 Dog	戌 Xu	January 29, 2006	February 16, 2018
豬 Pig	亥 Hai	February 18, 2007	February 5, 2019