Chinese New Year
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The Chinese New Year (农历新年）is the most important holidays for ethnic Chinese all around the world. The Chinese people observe the lunar calendar, that is, their calendar and dates are traditionally based on the moon and not on the sun (solar calendar). The New Year starts at the beginning of this lunar calendar.
The Chinese New Year is celebrated for fifteen days, but really starts on the Eve (the day before). On Chinese New Year's Eve all Chinese have to come together with their family to eat a meal in the evening, called the reunion dinner. No matter how far away they are, Chinese will try to come back to see and be united for their family at least this one time of the year.
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[change] Early new year
The first few days of the Chinese New Year the Chinese people visit their grandparents, parents, friends and relatives. The older and married people give the younger ones a red packet containing money notes, called hongbao. Children usually enjoy the Chinese New Year because they get to see old relatives, some young relatives and friends of their age, eat new things and also receive money in the form of hongbao from older people.
The Chinese people will wear new clothes, usually red in color, when they go on visits. They also say special phrases to wish other people good luck when they see them.
[change] Late new year
The last day of the Chinese New Year is called the Lantern Festival, or the Yuanxiao. On this day families cook dumplings made of glutinous rice and eat them in a sweet soup. There are also many beautiful lanterns which decorate the streets in China and Chinatowns. Traditionally, on this day, adult men and women can matchmake (chose a partner) according to whom they like, because in old China, this is one of the few days women of rich families are allowed to go outside their houses with their maids.
[change] New Year dates
| 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 |
[change] Beginning
Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon (some sources include New Year's Eve)[citation needed] and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. This occurs around the time of the full moon as each lunation is about 29.53 days in duration. In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. This means that the holiday usually falls on the second (very rarely third) new moon after the winter solstice. In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.
[change] Animal zodiacs
The dates for the Spring Festival from 1996 to 2019 (in the Gregorian calendar) are at the right, along with the year's presiding animal zodiac and its earthly branch. The names of the earthly branches have no English counterparts and are not the Chinese translations of the animals. Alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese astrology, namely: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association alternates every year. The elements are thus distinguished: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, etc. These produce a combined cycle that repeats every 60 years. For example, the year of the Yang Fire Rat occurred in 1936 and in 1996, 60 years apart.
[change] Differences
Many confuse their Chinese birth-year with their Gregorian birth-year. As the Chinese New Year starts in late January to mid February, the Chinese year dates from 1 January until that day in the new Gregorian year remain unchanged from the previous Gregorian year. For example, the 1989 year of the snake began on 6 February 1989. The year 1990 is considered by some people to be the year of the horse. However, the 1989 year of the snake officially ended on 26 January 1990. This means that anyone born from January 1 to January 25, 1990 was actually born in the year of the snake rather than the year of the horse.
