Chinese New Year

Kung Hei Fat Choi!!

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In China, as well as those countries outside of China with large populations of Chinese, one event is celebrated with much preparation, and even more funfare – the Chinese New Year, also called as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year. It is a festival much anticipated by many people, not all of them Chinese. The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar cycles. The lunar cycle takes about 29.5 days and in order to sychronize with the traditional solar calendar, the chinese have a leap year every few years (usually, seven years out of a 19-year cycle). It’s the same concept as having a leap year every four years for the traditional Gregorian calendar. This would explain why the Chinese New Year falls on a different day (in the Gregorian Calendar) every year.

The holiday is celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and family ancestors.”

Dragon dance

The Chinese Zodiac

Animal	Branch	Dates
Rat	Zi	February 19, 1996	February 7, 2008
Ox	Chou	February 7, 1997	January 26, 2009
Tiger	Yin	January 28, 1998	February 14, 2010
Rabbit	Mao	February 16, 1999	February 3, 2011
Dragon	Chen	February 5, 2000	January 23, 2012
Snake	Si	January 24, 2001	February 10, 2013
Horse	Wu	February 12, 2002	January 31, 2014
Sheep	Wei	February 1, 2003	February 19, 2015
Monkey	Shen	January 22, 2004	February 8, 2016
Rooster	You	February 9, 2005	January 28, 2017
Dog	Xu	January 29, 2006	February 16, 2018
Pig	Hai	February 18, 2007	February 5, 2019

Taboos & Superstituions

Here are some taboos and superstitions for the Chinese New Year:

House Cleaning – the entire house must be cleaned before the 1st day of the new year. At the same time, cleaning equipment must be put away, and there is to be no sweeping or dusting during New Year’s day. After New Year’s day, sweeping may be done but dust and rubbish must never be swept out of the house by the front door – to avoid good fortune being “swept away.” Also, the dust/rubbish should never be taken out until the fifth day. There is a belief that if you do this, you are actually “sweeping one of the family away.”

Firecrackers – welcoming in the New Year and sending out the old one. At midnight, all doors and windows have to be open so that the old year can go out.

Debts – all debts had to be paid before New Year’s day and there is no lending to be done at all on this day.

New Year at Glorietta 4