Chinese+New+year

Chinese New Year is a 15-day holiday, beginning on the first day of a new moon and ending with the full moon on the day of the Lantern Festival. The Chinese calendar is based on the lunar year, so the date of Chinese New Year changes every year. The Chinese calendar follows a 12-year pattern with each year named after an animal. The first year is the Year of the Rat, Followed by the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat (or Sheep), Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Depending on the year you are born, you are believed to have the various character traits of that year's animal.

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the New Year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade. In 2011, Chinese New Year was celebrated on the 3rd of February. Each day of the festival has a different special activity that people do to celebrate the New Year. 2011 is the year of the rabbit.
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Chinese New Year has been celebrated for so long now that no one knows when it first began. There is a legend told of a wild beast called Nien that appeared at the end of each year, attacking and killing villagers. Loud noises and bright lights were used to scare away the beast, and that is how the celebrations were created.
 * __ Where did this celebration begin and why is it celebrated? __**

New Years Eve and New Years Day are celebrated as a family affair. They are celebrated with a religious ceremony given in honour of Heaven and Earth and the gods of the household and family ancestors. During a special dinner, the family will acknowledge their lost loved ones. This meal is called the Weilu, which means ‘surrounding the stove’. It symbolises family unity and honours past and present generations.


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Chinese families decorate their living rooms with vases of pretty blossoms, platters of oranges and tangerines and a candy tray with eight varieties of dried sweet fruit.

On the walls and doors families stick poetic couplets, happy wishes written on red paper. These messages sound better than the typical fortune cookie messages. For instance, "May you enjoy continuous good health" and "May the Star of Happiness, the Star of Wealth and the Star of Longevity shine on you" are some of the things that are written.

On the eighth day of Chinese New Year celebrations families have a special porridge called Laba Zhou. Laba Zhou is full of all sorts of interesting ingredients like glutinous rice, red beans, millet, Chinese sorghum, peas, dried dates, chestnut meat, walnut meat, almond, peanut, and dried lotus seeds.[|bannerollieA.gif]