Year of the Tiger
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Chinese New Year
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The Chinese calendar is based on a mixture of lunar and solar activities. The lunar phase is approximately 29 1/2 days. In order to get closer to the solar calendar the Chinese puts in place an additional month once every few years. This is practically the same as adding an extra day onto a leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date every year. Although the Chinese calendar customarily does not use constantly numbered years, its years are repeatedly numbered from the reign of Huangdi outside China. But at least three different years numbered 1 are now used by different intellectuals, making the year 2009 "Chinese Year" 4707, 4706, or 4646.
Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve". New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are fêted as a family event, a time of getting together and thanksgiving. The celebration was customarily highlighted with a religious service given in honour of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.
The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most crucial of all the sacraments, integrated the living members with those who had passed away. Departed family members are remembered with immense respect because they were accountable for laying the fundamentals for the fortune and splendor of the family. The ancestors’ presence is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner put together for them at the family dinner table. The spirits of the ancestors, collectively with the living, commemorate the beginning of the New Year as one vast society. The communal feast is called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honours the past and present generations.
Celebrated in regions with huge populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is definitely a key holiday for the Chinese and has had major influence on the New Year festivities of its neighbours, as well as different cultures with whom the Chinese have had wide spread relations. These include Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, and formerly the Japanese before 1873. In Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and other countries or regions with major Han Chinese populations, commemorate Chinese New Year and has, to contrasting degrees, become part of the traditional culture of these countries. In Canada, although Chinese New Year is not a certified holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold huge celebrations and festivities to commemorate this tradition.
Here are some facts about Chinese New Year in 2009. It is also known as the Spring Festival, and began on 26th January 2009. It is the main Chinese festival of the year and it is not a religious occasion. As the Chinese use the lunar calendar for their celebrations the date of Chinese New Year varies from year to year. The date corresponds with the new moon also known as the ‘black moon’, and this is either in late January or February. Traditionally celebrations last for fifteen days, ending on the date of the full moon. In China the public holiday goes on for three days and this is the most immense festivity of the year.
The Chinese calendar is unlike any that is used in the United Kingdom. It is made up of a cycle of twelve years, each of these years being named after an animal. This is very much like our signs of the zodiac. Various individuals think that people born in a particular year, such as the year of the Dog, will have some of the personalities of that animal. January 26th 2009 marked the start of the Year of the Ox. On the Chinese calendar the year is 4707.
Over sixty percent of people in the world celebrate Chinese New Year. Customs differ in various parts of the world, but everywhere the basic idea is somewhat similar. It is a time to remember the family and wish everyone serenity and prosperity in the coming year.
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