The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is the longest and most important celebration of the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The celebration starts on the first day of the first month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar, and ends of the 15th day with the Lantern Festival.
The Chinese New Year is also celebrated in many other parts of the world, particularly in those cities that have their own Chinatown district. In most countries many of the traditional rituals of the Spring Festival are observed, but locals traditions are also included in the celebrations.
Chinese New Years are named after a cycle of 12 animals: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig, which are the signs of the Chinese Zodiac. Chinese Astrology associates character traits with people born in the year of each of the Animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Adherents of Chinese Astrology consider this compatibility before starting a business of personal relationship.
Celebrations of the Chinese New Year start on New Year's Day and continue for fifteen days. The celebrations include visits to family and friends, the wearing of new clothes and shoes to mark the new year, and the liberal use of the color red in all decorations.
Preparations for the Celebration
Prior to the New Year celebrations Chinese families carry out a thorough cleaning of their homes to sweep away the bad luck of the preceding year.
Families gather together to hold special New Year's Eve dinners, where traditionally chicken and fish will be served. This reunion dinner is usually held in or near the home of the most senior family member.
After dinner some families pray for a prosperous New Year in their local temple, and some households hold parties, often with a Hogmanay-style countdown to midnight.
First Day
The most important ritual of the first day of the Chinese New Year is when families visit the most senior members of their extended family.
Children are given gifts of money in red envelopes, and employers often give bonuses to their staff in such envelopes for good luck and wealth.
Chinese Buddhists avoid eating meat on this day.
Second Day
On the second day of the Chinese New Year, married daughters visit their parents, and the Chinese pray to their ancestors as well as to all the gods.
Third Day
The third day of the Chinese New Tear is generally regarded as a day not to visit family and friends.
Fifth Day
In Northern China, people eat dumplings on the morning of fifth day of the Chinese New Year, the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth.
Many Chinese people let of firecrackers to attract the attention of Guan Yu, the Chinese God of War, to ensure favor and good fortune for the New Year.
Seventh Day
The seventh day of the Chinese New Year is known as the common man's birthday, the day everyone becomes a year older.
Many Chinese Buddhists avoid eating meat on this day, which commemorates the birth of Sakra Devanam Indra.
Eighth Day
Everyone has returned to work by the eighth day of the Chinese New Year, with government agencies having completed their celebrations.
Families hold another dinner to celebrate the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor.
Ninth Day
The Chinese offer prayers to the Jade Emperor, on his birthday, in the Taoist Pantheon on the ninth day of the Chinese New Year.
Thirteenth Day
On the thirteenth day of the Chinese New Year people eat simple vegetarian food to cleanse their stomachs afther the over-indulgence of the previous two weeks.
Fifteenth Day
The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year. Rice dumplings are eaten, candles are lit outside homes to guide wayward spirits home, and families walk around with lighted lanterns.
Chinese Astrological Forecast for 2011
Chinese Astrology makes forecasts for each Chinese Year in general, and for people belonging to each Chinese Zodiac sign in more detail. See Forecast for 2011 to see the forecast for 2011, the Chinese Year of the Rabbit.
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Celebration of the Chinese New Year
Spring Festival
Mark Tibbits - A professional writer and educator who writes about Astrology, South Asia/China, the UK, the British Royal Family, and Religion.
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