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Gung Hei Fat Choi! Celebrate the Chinese New Year on 10 February 2013


Chinese New Year is the biggest celebration of the year for Chinese people around the world. In China, the festival is marked by a three-day public holiday.


Also called the Spring Festival, it is a special time for families to get together, and millions of people travel home from their places of work or study.


Chinese people prepare for the New Year celebrations by cleaning their houses from top to bottom. The idea is to clear away any bad luck and make way for good luck in the year ahead. People also buy new clothes and have their hair cut. They decorate their homes with red and gold paper decorations and lights. Red is a lucky colour in China, while gold represents wealth. Debts must be paid off before the end of the year, otherwise it is said that you will be short of money in the following year. People also bring plants and fruit trees into their homes, especially kumquat plants and peach blossom.


On New Year’s Eve, families gather together for a celebratory feast. They eat sticky rice dumplings to bring good luck and happiness. It is a time to be thankful for the year that is ending and to remember family members who have died. At midnight, the doors and windows of the house are opened to let the old year out and fi recrackers are set off .


The next day, friends and families exchange gifts of food, fl owers and sweets. Children are given money in red paper envelopes. There are fi reworks and elaborate lion and dragon dances featuring beautifully coloured costumes and puppets. People try to forget grudges and wish peace and happiness to everyone.


The date of the New Year is calculated using the lunar calendar and can fall any time between late January and the middle of February. A complete cycle of the lunar calendar lasts 60 years and consists of fi ve cycles of 12 years. Each of the 12 years is named after a diff erent animal – rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Legend has it that Buddha asked all the animals on earth to join him for a party. Only 12 turned up, and as a reward, he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. Each animal has certain characteristics which people born in that year are said to share.


2013 will be the Year of the Snake. People born in this year are said to be romantic, wise and charming. They are good at making and saving money, but can be stingy. Famous snakes include Audrey Hepburn, Bob Dylan and Brad Pitt!


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