Chinese New Year is the most important festivity for the Chinese people. Itis also called the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year.
Every year has an animal’s name. These animals are the rat, ox, tiger,rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. A Chineselegend says that these twelve animals had a race. The first year was named afterthe rat, the winner. The other eleven years were named after the order in whichthe animals arrived in the race. The clever rat jumped onto the ox’s back thenat the end jumped over the ox’s head to arrive first!
The Chinese believe that a person born in a particular year has some of thecharacteristics of animal.
On Chinese New Year’s Eve all family members enjoy a big, delicious meal.It is very important for the Chinese to be with their families on this occasion.Fish is always part of the dinner because it represents abundance.
On New Year’s Day all Chinese children wear new clothes with bright colors.Red is considered a lucky color. Parents and relatives give children thetraditional New Year’s gift called lucky money. This money is put into brightred and gold envelopes. Fill under the pillow. in the morning of new year , thekid wakes up to see the “lucky money”, express that oneself become one yearolder. Red is a traditional color for festivals, celebrations, weddings andbirthdays.
The lion dancers are always part of the festivities. The lion has a bighead and long body made of cloth. The lion dance is accompanied by drums,cymbals and noisy firecrackers. According to ancient traditions the great noisefrightens away evil spirits.
The dragon is the most important figure of the Chinese New Year festivitiesand parades. The dragon is considered a lucky figure. A parade dragon can be 20to 30 meters long! Sixty or more men move under a long cloth that represents thedragon’s tail.
During the parade children represent the animals of the Chinese calendar.There are also acrobats and musicians in beautiful costumes.
Happy New Year!
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