Happy Chinese Lunar New Year!
We have already started the festivities with a wonderful party thrown by some of our friends and to welcome a 40th birthday in. We made lanterns, Chinese hats, bracelets/necklaces, did a wonderful Dragon dance, even had safe fireworks for the kids, and dined on traditional Chinese New Year food. Thanks friends, great way to kick off the Year of the Ox.
Chinese New Year begins on the first day of the first moon of the year, which is considered to be a particularly auspicious day (January 26, 2009). Children are given hong bao, lucky red envelopes full of money, and households exchange visits and gifts. Most celebrants at Chinese New Year wear red, which is a lucky color, and also refrain from reflecting on the past year and uttering unlucky words, as it is believed that the first day of the new year will determine your fortune in the months to come. So let's go have a great day today.
Chinese New Year continues with 15 days of celebration, including a day to welcome the god of wealth, a day to celebrate farming and produce, and days to celebrate friends and family. Friendships and family relationships are a very important part of Chinese New Year, and a great deal of food and dinner invitations are exchanged as part of this tradition. Numerous lucky foods are served throughout the Chinese New Year festival, and after all that rich dining, the 13th day of the festival is set aside for eating rice and bitter greens to cleanse the palate.
On the 15th day, the Chinese New Year celebration culminates with the Lantern Festival, which is traditionally held at night. During the Lantern Festival, hundreds of citizens flood the street with lanterns representing wealth, animals, historical figures, plants, and a variety of other things. The lanterns are paraded through towns and cities throughout China, Taiwan, and parts of the world with large Chinese communities. The Lantern Festival ends with a burst of fireworks to celebrate the upcoming year while celebrants eat special round dumplings to celebrate unity.
Happy Year of the Ox. Click here to learn more
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