CELEBRATE THE CHINESE
NEW YEAR - The Year of the Rat
The Chinese New Year is a fifteen day celebration about the coming of spring. Predating the International calendar, which is based on the Gregorian Calendar, The Chinese calendar has been used for centuries. The Chinese Calendar is based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the Sun, Moon and Stars. February 7, 2008 is the first day of the Chinese new year. This year is known as the Year of the Rat - there are only 12 animal names in this system, so they are re-used every 12 years. There are 60 names in this formal naming system, so the name of the year is re-used every 60 years. The Chinese New Year begins with the new moon on the first day of the new year, and ends on the full moon 15 days later -which is when the Lantern Festival is celebrated with lantern displays and parades.
Traditional this is what happens on or before Chinese New Year:
- The house is cleaned from top to
bottom before the New Year, to eliminate any bad luck from
the previous year and to make way for good luck in the new year.
If you clean too late, you may sweep away the good luck in the New
Year.
- Windows and doors are decorated,
usually with red, the luckiest color according to Chinese
tradition. Mobils, and paper cuttings, hand on windows and doors
to bestow good luck to any who pass by.
- Special dishes are made as an offering to the "Kitchen God" or the one who oversees what happens in the kitchen and the home. This god does report back to the other gods in heaven. Tasty dishes that symbolize wealth and good fortune are served throughout the New Year period--usually tangerines, oranges and dumplings that sometimes have a lucky coin in them.
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