Global Holidays: Ssssnakes are in Season This Chinese New Year

Most people have heard of the Chinese Zodiac calendar that associates you with an animal, depending on what year you were born. For example, because I was born after the Chinese new year date in 1993, I am a rooster. Cock-a-doodle-doooo!!  However, most people don’t know much about the holiday behind the horoscope or what it means. I’m here to introduce you, dear readers, to the basics of this interesting holiday and where it came from.

Chinese New Year is a period of several days that used to be considered the first days of the year according to the ancient lunar-solar calendar that the Chinese were accustomed to before the world adopted the standard calendar that we have today, and it always falls between Janurary 21 and February 21 on the first new moon. This year it falls on Sunday, February 10, 2013.

Since they adopted the standard calendar, the holiday is now called the Spring Festival, but it remains to be a very important social and economic holiday in China. However, you may not know that Japan, Vietnam, and Korea all celebrate during this time as well!  

In the ancient days, Chinese New Year was traditionally meant as a celebration to honor their deities and ancestors as they ushered in a new period, and many of the traditions observed during the day reflect those that they performed historically. Here are a few interesting things they do to prepare:

• Rigorous cleaning is performed on the entire house in order to sweep away bad luck and make room for better luck during the new year.
• Decorations made to display characters for luck, wealth, health, and other good things are prepared and hung up around houses to attract these things into their home
• At or near midnight, people shoot off fireworks to scare away evil spirits
• Red is used for decorations and clothing for the new year because it is a very auspicious color in the Chinese culture
• On New Year’s Day, children wake up to little red envelopes under their pillow with candy and money as gifts from their parents and grandparents.
• On the fifteenth day of the month, the festivities end with the lantern festival where people make lanterns and hang them at their house or parade in the streets with paper dragons

As with many holidays celebrated around the world, there is a large demand for feasting during the new year period. The staples vary according to what region the family is from in China, but every New Year’s Eve, families come together to enjoy a large meal together.

In the north, people eat djiaozi - a steamed dumpling and in the south they might eat nian gao - a sticky, sweet rice pudding. Long noodles are eaten to symbolize a long life, while buns shaped like the full moon represent the perfection of family. You can read more about symbolic dishes served during the holiday here.  

As I mentioned at the beginning, the Chinese New Year plays a part in the Chinese Zodiac, which is part of the ancient calendar that associated each year with one of twelve animals that rotate and restart when every twelve year cycle is over. This year is the year of the snake.Want to know what your sign is? See below!

Rat	1924	1936	1948	1960	1972	1984	1996	2008
Ox	1925	1937	1949	1961	1973	1985	1997	2009
Tiger	1926	1938	1950	1962	1974	1986	1998	2010
Rabbit	1927	1939	1951	1963	1975	1987	1999	2011
Dragon	1928	1940	1952	1964	1976	1988	2000	2012
Snake	1929	1941	1953	1965	1977	1989	2001	2013
Horse	1930	1942	1954	1966	1978	1990	2002	2014
Sheep	1931	1943	1955	1967	1979	1991	2003	2015
Monkey	1932	1944	1956	1968	1980	1992	2004	2016
Rooster	1933	1945	1957	1969	1981	1993	2005	2017
Dog	1934	1946	1958	1970	1982	1994	2006	2018
Pig	1935	1947	1959	1971	1983	1995	2007	2019

If you want to know what your result means, check out  this website!

If you’re interested in experiencing some of the traditions associated with this holiday, I suggest visiting San Francisco during the time of the holiday, as it boasts the largest celebration of the holiday outside of mainland China. 

On that note, go out and celebrate! Gung hei fat choi! Happy Chinese New Year!