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Chinese New Year is
an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the first day
of the year of the Chinese calendar. In China, it is also known as
the Spring Festival, the literal translation of the modern Chinese name.
Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year's Eve,
the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to
the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival
the longest in the Chinese calendar. Because the Chinese
calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as
the "Lunar New Year".
The
source of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance
because of several myths and traditions. Traditionally, the festival was a time
to honor deities as well as ancestors. Chinese New Year is celebrated in
countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, including Mainland
China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan,
Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Mauritius, Philippines,
and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New
Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the
lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors
Within China, regional
customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary
widely. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Year's Day is an occasion for
Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also
traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep
away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors
will be decorated with red color paper cuts and couplets with
popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness",
"wealth", and "longevity." Other activities include
lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes.
Although the
Chinese calendar traditionally does not use continuously numbered years,
outside China
its years are often numbered from the reign of the 3rd millennium BC Yellow
Emperor. But at least three different years numbered 1 are now used by various
scholars, making the year beginning AD 2013 the "Chinese Year" 4711,
4710, or 4650.
Dates
Animal
|
Branch
|
New Year dates
|
||
鼠 Shǔ (Rat)
|
子 Zǐ
|
19 February 1996
|
7 February 2008
|
25 January 2020
|
牛 Niú (Ox)
|
丑 Chǒu
|
7 February 1997
|
26 January 2009
|
12 February 2021
|
虎 Hǔ (Tiger)
|
寅 Yín
|
28 January 1998
|
14 February 2010
|
1 February 2022
|
兔 Tù (Rabbit)
|
卯 Mǎo
|
16 February 1999
|
3 February 2011
|
22 January 2023
|
龍 Lóng (Dragon)
|
辰 Chén
|
5 February 2000
|
23 January 2012
|
10 February 2024
|
蛇 Shé (Snake)
|
巳 Sì
|
24 January 2001
|
10 February 2013
|
29 January 2025
|
馬 Mǎ (Horse)
|
午 Wǔ
|
12 February 2002
|
31 January 2014
|
17 February 2026
|
羊 Yáng (Goat)
|
未 Wèi
|
1 February 2003
|
19 February 2015
|
6 February 2027
|
猴 Hóu (Monkey)
|
申 Shēn
|
22 January 2004
|
8 February 2016
|
26 January 2028
|
雞 Jī (Rooster)
|
酉 Yǒu
|
9 February 2005
|
28 January 2017
|
13 February 2029
|
狗 Gǒu (Dog)
|
戌 Xū
|
29 January 2006
|
16 February 2018
|
3 February 2030
|
豬 Zhū (Pig)
|
亥 Hài
|
18 February 2007
|
5 February 2019
|
23 February 2031
|
The lunisolar Chinese
calendar determines the date of Chinese New Year. The calendar is also used in
countries that have adopted or have been influenced by many eastern Asian
countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam.
In the Gregorian
calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between
January 21 and February 20. In the Chinese calendar, winter solstice must
occur in the 11th month, which means that Chinese New Year usually falls on the
second new moon after the winter solstice (rarely the third if an intercalary
month intervenes). In traditional Chinese culture, lichun is a
solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.
The dates for
Chinese New Year from 1996 to 2031 (in the Gregorian calendar) are above, along
with the year's presiding animal zodiacand its earthly branch. The names
of the Earthly Branches have no English counterparts and are not the
Chinese translations of the animals. Alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal
zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten
heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese
astrology, namely: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.
The elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association
alternates every year. The elements are thus distinguished: Yang Wood, Yin
Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, etc. These produce a combined cycle that repeats
every 60 years. For example, the year of the Yang Fire Rat occurred in
1936 and in 1996, 60 years apart.
Many confuse their
Chinese birth-year with their Gregorian birth-year. As the Chinese New Year
starts in late January to mid-February, the Chinese year dates from January 1
until that day in the new Gregorian year remain unchanged from the previous
Gregorian year. For example, the 1989 year of the Snake began on
February 6, 1989. The year 1990 is considered by some people to be the year of
the Horse. However, the 1989 year of the Snake officially ended on
February 8, 1990. This means that anyone born from January 1 to February 7,
1990 was actually born in the year of the Snake rather than the year
of the Horse. Many online Chinese Sign calculators do not account for the
non-alignment of the two calendars, using Gregorian-calendar years rather than
official Chinese New Year dates. One scheme of continuously
numbered Chinese-calendar years assigns 4709 to the year beginning, 2011,
but this is not universally accepted; the calendar is traditionally cyclical,
not continuously numbered.
~Blog Admin~
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