Before you know it, Christmas will be here. I wish you all, wherever you may be, a very happy Christmas. At the same time, the Chinese Spring Festival will come. Please say “Happy Spring Festival” to Chinese around you.
The Chinese Spring Festival, also called Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year, is considered the most significant of all the traditional holidays in China.
The specific date of the Chinese Spring Festival is the 1st of January and it is based on the Chinese lunar calendar—the traditional Chinese calendar — known as lunisolar, not the Gregorian calendar. But the period of the Spring Festival is always from Jan. 21 to Feb. 20. The Chinese Spring Festival was Feb. 8 last year, while this year it is Jan. 28, 2017.
According to the Chinese 12-year animal zodiac: 鼠：Ra; 牛：Ox; 虎：Tiger; 兔：Hare; 龙：Dragon ; 蛇：Snake; 马：Horse; 羊：Sheep; 猴：Monkey; 鸡：Cock; 狗：Dog; 猪：Boar. 2016 is a year of the Monkey cycle. Other Monkey years include: …1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004… So could you know what year 2017 is? The Cock year. And could you know what are other Cock years?
As a part of the tradition of the Spring Festival, before the Festival comes, all the families will clean their whole house from inside to outside, completely and methodically. It means they will drive away all bad luck; deep sorrow or ill-fortune will go away from their sides. Hence, they hope the cleanliness will bring good luck and prosperity for the incoming year.
In the majority houses, you will see decorations with paper-cuts and couplets with red color on the windows and doors. The themes of these decorations are “happiness,” “longevity,” “wealth,” “prosperity” and “health.”
The evening of Chinese New Year, the family dinner means a feast. Chicken, ducks, fish, pigs, sweet delicacies, dumplings, noodles and so on are usually found on the tables. Around at 12 o’clock, every single family has a show of fireworks. Parents and children light firecrackers. The whole sky is lighted brightly. After the fireworks, children always get a red packet with money that comes from the elders. All the children are expected to greet everybody and wish not just a happy but a healthy coming new year
The Chinese New Year is a tradition that usually reconciles families, making them forget all the past grudges and offering sincere wishes of happiness and peace for everyone in the coming New Year.
