Chinese New Year aka Spring Festival

Gong Xi Fa Chai.. Yeeeyyyyy, Finally that day almost coming kekeke ^^ Happy New Year To Chinese People all around the world. Chinese New Year or The Spring Festival is one of the celebration that must be celebrated in my family since I was a kid. Have a Chinese man as my father, I automatically also have Chinese blood in my body so in my family, Chinese New Year  is as important as Christmas..

“ Chinese New Year aka Spring Festival “

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. In China, it is also known as the 'Spring Festival', the literal translation of the modern Chinese name (see Names in Chinese below). Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally ran from Chinese New Year's Day itself, the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. 

The evening preceding Chinese New Year's Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year". The next Chinese New Year's Day falls on 10 February 2013. The new year will be the year of the snake.

  

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festival in the Chinese calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. People celebrate the Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is celebrated in China and in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, including Hong Kong,^[2] Macau, Taiwan, Singapore,^[3] Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mauritius,^[4] Philippines,^[5][6] and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors.

 

Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity." On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

Although the Chinese calendar traditionally does not use continuously numbered years, outside China its years are often numbered from the reign of the Yellow Emperor. But at least three different years numbered 1 are now used by various scholars, making the year beginning in 2012 AD the "Chinese Year" 4710, 4709, or 4649.^[7]

  

Chinese calendar

Animal	Branch	New Year dates
鼠 Shǔ Rat	子 Zǐ	1996-02-19	2008-02-07	2020-01-25
牛 Niú Ox	丑 Chǒu	1997-02-07	2009-01-26	2021-02-12
虎 Hǔ Tiger	寅 Yín	1998-01-28	2010-02-14	2022-02-01
兔 Tù Rabbit	卯 Mǎo	1999-02-16	2011-02-03	2023-01-22
龍 Lóng Dragon	辰 Chén	2000-02-05	2012-01-23	2024-02-10
蛇 Shé Snake	巳 Sì	2001-01-24	2013-02-10	2025-01-29
馬 Mǎ Horse	午 Wǔ	2002-02-12	2014-01-31	2026-02-17
羊 Yáng Goat	未 Wèi	2003-02-01	2015-02-19	2027-02-07
猴 Hóu Monkey	申 Shēn	2004-01-22	2016-02-08	2028-01-27
雞 Jī Rooster	酉 Yǒu	2005-02-09	2017-01-28	2029-02-13
狗 Gǒu Dog	戌 Xū	2006-01-29	2018-02-16	2030-02-03
豬 Zhū Pig	亥 Hài	2007-02-18	2019-02-05	2031-01-23

Mythology

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian (Chinese: 年; pinyin: Nián). Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu's mount.^[8]