Thursday 7 February 2013

Chinese New Year 2013 - the Year of the Snake

Chinese New Year is a very colourful celebration and the most important festival for Chinese people.

The dates follow the moon calendar, and the New Year could be any time between mid-January and late February. 
This year, the new year starts on the 10th of February, and it is going to be the Year of the Snake!

It's a 15-day celebration for the whole family and the house gets decorated in red and gold, because those are lucky colours. There are parades and fireworks, as well as feasts!

Many traditional dishes and decorations are based on puns:
For example, this sign means 'Fortune'.


It is written on cards and then hung upside down, because the words 'fortune upside down' sound very similar to 'fortune has arrived'.



Favourite foods for New Year are those that sound similar to good fortune, such as chicken, fish and vegetables: The Mandarin for chicken sounds like luck, fish sounds like abundance and the word for vegetables sounds like money!

If you're curious about the other traditions and the history of the New Year celebrations, watch this lovely short clip!

Happy New Year!




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