Chinese New Year

In China, normally we call the traditional Chinese New Year as the Spring Festival, which is the most important holiday during the whole year. It applies the old fashion of Chinese calendar based on the lunar and solar movement, so usually it occurs on someday of January or February but not on 1^st January each year. The interesting thing is that there are 12 symbol animals and one will be allocated to one year according to a certain sequence: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. For example, the Chinese New Year began on 31^st January and 2014 is the Horse year, which is endorsed by the spirit of horse: bravery, independence and speed.

Since the biggest event is the Chinese New Year’s Eve, which is comparable to the Christmas Eve in the Western country, Chinese people will do well preparation to welcome this event. Every family will conduct a thorough cleaning in their house,   purchase many foods and new clothes, and prepare a big dinner for the Eve together with their family members.  The most popular and traditional main course on that night is dumpling, especially in the northern part of China.  At midnight, people will light up fireworks and firecrackers to scare away the evil which exists in the legend and celebrate the coming of a new year.

In the early morning of the first day in the New Year, children will greet their parents and the elders within the family and receive Red Envelopes from them, with all the best wishes. In the next fifteen days, people will visit their relatives and friends, bringing with gifts and wishes as well. The fifteenth day of the New Year is the Lantern Festival, which marks the end of the whole New Year season. People will light up many gorgeous lanterns and eat one kind of traditional sweet rice balls in soup as a desert, which represents a beautiful start and happiness for all the family members in the new year.