Chinese New Year 2010

Hi dear Friends and visitor, i am back again from my vacation days. This is my first post on 2010. But, it seems on a few days ahead i am not so active in my blogging, since i have to become a baby sitter for my sister children during they stay here until 7th of January they will be going back with their father. I love to play with them, they are so funny and cute hihihi... Ok lets back to the topic. The International New Year 2010 is passing by already, and the next even is Chinese New Year 农历新年.

Chinese New year is the most important and the longest festival during the Lunar Calendar. The Traditional festival it self begin on the first day of the month and end on 15th, most people knew as Lantern Festival. The origin of Chinese New Year it self is already centuries old and also from tradition and myths so far as i knew. Ancient Chinese New Year means is how the people behave during the year, and that is how we believe on it.

When it will be the Chinese New Year in 2010 and how to count it? 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. So The Chinese New Year 2010 will be on 14 February 2010.

The way to celebrate of the Chinese new year vary widely. Most People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also a tradition that every family must thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any bad -fortune in hopes to make way for good luck to come 10 day before new year. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of happiness, wealth, and long life.

On the Eve of Chinese New Year,my family and most of people wild held supper dinner is a feast with all of families. Food will range from ducks, chicken and pig and also sweet delicacies. The family Supper Dinner will end the night with lighting the firecrackers on.

By the next early morning, the children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes for those whose not married yet. The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

The Question is why the using the red color and firecrackers?Well, according to the tradition an ancient story and legends, starting every new year there is mythical beast called the Nian appear. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. Firstly to protect them selves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared already, it wouldn’t attack any more people.

One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red clothes. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the red color. Since then, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came again to the village.

Since 2010 is the year of the tiger, many cute stuff like this were sold in here, look at my fingers, hihihi..

Oh one more thing, the Chinese New year is also marked as the beginning of the Spring season and it also called Spring Festival.