It’s Sunday & Day 3 of my Chinese New Year Celebration. Thanks for stopping bye and sharing the holiday with my family this weekend.
Once the 12 year cycle is over the animal list begins again. The list in order is: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. As the longest festival in the Chinese calendar, Chinese New Year can last as many as 15 days. Children take an entire month off of school. ( and I complained about a week off for Mardi Gras)
The holiday is oddly called “Spring Festival”.
Though in winter, Chinese call their New Year holidays ‘Spring Festival’ (春节 chūnjié /chwnn-jyeah/), because ‘Start of Spring’ (4–18 February) is the first of the terms in the traditional solar calendar. While wintry weather prevails, ‘Start of Spring’ marks the end of the coldest part of winter, when the Chinese traditionally could look forward to the beginning of spring.
There is the world’s biggest annual fireworks usage.
No single hour in any other country sees as many tons of fireworks lighted as in China around the midnight beginning Chinese New Year. China produces about 90% of the world’s fireworks!
Fireworks are used to scare evil spirits: Most mainland Chinese believe that the flash and bang of firecrackers and fireworks scare away demons and evil ghosts.
It is a festival for 1/4 of the world’s population.
It’s China’s winter vacation week, like between Christmas and New Year’s Day other countries. Schools in China get about a month off, and universities even more. China, Hong Kong and Macau, and nine other Asian countries have public holidays.
Lisa s Everyday Life 