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Happy Chinese New Year!
If that’s the case, you’re in luck!
What is Chinese New Year?
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Chinese New Yearis a holiday that marks the start of the new year according to the traditional Chinese calendar.
Because of its reliance on the lunar phases, the festival falls on different days each year.
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Spring Festival
Chinese New Year is also known aschunjieor theSpring Festivalin China.
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The main festivities start onJanuary 14with Little Year, a day of preparation for the New Year.
The festival officially ends with the Lantern Festival onFebruary 5.
Origins of the Holiday
The exact date of the first festival is unknown.
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According to legend, Nian lived in the mountains most of the time.
Instead, they’re rooted in mythology.
The lunar calendar follows this succession, with the rat starting the cycle and the pig concluding it.
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Each animal in the zodiac is connected to a season, direction, and natural element.
Important Customs
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Countless traditions have come to define Chinese New Year.
Here, we explore some of the most prevalent and popular of these customs.
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A traditional reunion dinner includes 8 courses topped off with white rice, tea, and fruit for dessert.
Decorations
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This use of homonyms is also prevalent in decoration.
It is oriented in this unusual way because upside-down is a homonym of to arrive.
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Therefore, arranging the banner in this way implies that fortune or good luck will arrive.
Filled with lucky money, the packets are most often given to children from parents and grandparents.
Lion dancers are inspired by Nian, who is believed to have had the head of a lion.
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They move in a quick, cat-like way and often perform stunts.
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Adragon dancerequires a team of dancers who hold up a serpentine-like dragon structure.
The body comprises several sections held up by poles, and is joined to a tail and decorative head.
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It begins about 15 days before the start of the Lunar New Year, and lasts for 40 days.
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