CHINESE NEW YEAR www.apples4theteacher.com Do you want to know how to say 'Happy New Year' in Chinese (cantonese)? Sun nien fai lok Did you know that the Chinese do not celebrate the New Year on the same day as we do? Chinese New Year starts with the second New Moon after the winter solstice and ends on the full moon 15 days later. Like all Chinese festivals it is determined by the lunar/solar calendar, so the actual date varies from late January to mid-February. In 2006 it falls on January 29. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion, thanksgiving and remembering departed relatives. Preparations for the New Year festival start during the last few days of the last moon. Houses are thoroughly cleaned, debts repaid, hair cut and new clothes bought. Doors
are decorated with vertical scrolls of characters on red paper whose
texts seek good luck and praise nature, a practice that stems from the
hanging of charms to keep away ghosts and evil spirits. Traditionally, the years are named, in a 12-year cycle, after animals. In 2006 the Year of the Rooster gives way to the Year of the Dog. (adapted from http://www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/CHINA/chinese_new_year.html) Do
you want to know what Chinese sign you are ? Just have
a look at this table and find it out.
Now that you already know your Chinese sign, you might want to know a bit about it. Read this:
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