The Spring Festival, more commonly known as the Chinese New Year, has dated back centuries in Chinese history. It is the most important festival of the year and the date of the New Year is determined by the lunar/solar calendar. Therefore, the date of the holiday varies each year from late January to mid February. The Chinese calendar dates back centuries before the Julian celendar was used. It measures time based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars, and is highly accurate. This year’s Chinese New Year falls on February 1, 2003. This year is the year of the Ram (sheep, goat).
The Chinese New Year celebrates the earth coming back to life, and the start of ploughing and sowing of humans on earth. Preparations for the festival start during the last few days of the last moon. Houses are cleaned, debts paid, hair cut and new clothes bought. Doors are decorated with scrolls of Chinese characters on red paper, seeking good luck for the on coming year. In many homes and temples incense is burned, in order to pay respect to ancestors.
On New Year’s Eve, all the houses are brightly lit with lanterns and everyone is celebrating. Dinner is served and each plate signifies good wishing. The feasting goes into the night and ends with fireworks. New Years day is often spent visiting neighbors, family and friends.
Chinese New Year
This is a very comprehensive website on Chinese New Year. It gives a brief introduction to the history of the festival and it also describes the meaning of the Year of the Black Sheep, this year’s Chinese zodiac. It also explains how the Chinese calendar works and how it came to be used, giving the personalities and traits of the people born in each year. There is a link in which you could read through words of wisdom from the favorite fortune cookies that we all love. Lastly, they provide an electrical card delivery service to send wishes to your family and friends.
http://www.new-year.co.uk/chinese/
Celebration of the Chinese New Year
A very detailed website that gives many examples of the traditions that are carried out during Chinese New Year. It also mixes the Western point of view of the Chinese New Year and how Chinese people celebrate the festival in the United States. It gives a tradition point of view vs. the modern way of celebrating. There is also a very complete explanation for the different symbols for the New Year. You can also look up what is your zodiac sign and read more about it.
http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/festival/newyear/newyear.html
Chinese New Year
This website gives an introduction followed by many articles to read about the Chinese New Year. You can also look up many books that are about the festival. There are menus and recipes for Chinese plates served during the New Year. They also explain what crafts and activities are carried out during the festival. There are other links that you can go to from this website that is related to Chinese New Year.
http://www.web-holidays.com/lunar/
