Chinese New Year

On January 29 the Year of the Dog begins, taking over from the Year of the Rooster.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated as a spring festival in commemoration of the legend of Nia. Nia was supposed to be a huge wild animal which terrified towns and villages on winter evenings when it came looking for food. The people were frightened as they could think of no way of scaring the monster away. Then one day, someone hung a red cloth in a tall tree too dry. Nia, seeing the ominous red cloth looming against the sky, ran away in fear of its life. Everyone was so glad that they had found a means of keeping the monster away that they hung red cloth on the front door of each house. And since then Nia has never returned.

Legend has it that Lord Buddha ordered all the animals to come to him before he left the earth. Only twelve showed up! As a reward he named a year after each animal, in the order they arrived.The period begins with a symbolic spring-clean, debts are paid and preparations made for a fresh start to the New Year. Houses are decorated with lanterns and red paper strips with New Year poems are hung from the doors.

On their New Year's Eve, families gather together for a large 'unity dinner' which consists of more than ten dishes! New Year's greeting are painted on red paper and displayed on doors, cards are exchanged and there are big firework displays.

On the morning of New Year's Day, everyone gets up early, and the children find small red envelopes containing sweets or money under their pillows. Everyone greets eachother saying 'Kung Hoy Fat Choy' (Happy New Year).During the Lantern Festival, everywhere is decorated with a variety of different sixed lanterns and there is music and dancing in the streets. One special feature is the dragon dance, where a huge dragon head and body, supported by a team of dancers weaves its way around the streets collecting money from houses on its route.

Red is a lucky colour for Chinese people, so you'll see lots of red decorations, masks and artwork at New Year