Thursday, February 7, 2008

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important Chinese holiday. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year by people outside China. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival 元宵节; 元宵節; pinyin: yuánxiāojié.

This is a major holiday for the Chinese and had a strong influence on the new year celebrations on his neighbors.

The traditional Chinese calendar did not continuously numbered years, many people consider this new year starting in 2008 to be 4705.

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

According to legends, in ancient China the Nián 年 was a man-eating beast from the mountains or from under the sea, camed out every 12 months somewhere close to winter to prey on humans. The people believed that the Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the colour red, so they scared the beast away with explosions, fireworks and the use of the colour red. These led to the first New Year celebrations. Guò nián 过年; 過年, which means to celebrate the new year, means the passover of the Nian.

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