Celebrate Chinese New Year!

Celebrate Chinese New Year!

People all over the world welcome the Year of the Ox

Gong hsi fa chai!

No, that's not a misprint. It's the proper greeting in Mandarin Chinese to wish someone a happy and prosperous new year. People all over the world celebrated the beginning of the Chinese New Year on January 26.

The Chinese New Year falls on a different day each year. It begins on the first new moon of the year. When there is a new moon, the moon is not visible from Earth.

Chinese New Year celebrations last until the full moon appears 15 days later.

The traditional Chinese calendar is lunar, or based on the rotation of the moon around the Earth. The calendar that begins with January and ends with December—the one most widely used throughout the world—is a solar calendar. It is based on the Earth's rotation around the sun.

2009 is the Year of the Ox. In Chinese tradition, a different animal represents each of 12 years. The cycle of animals begins again in the 13th year. Tradition says that people born in the Year of the Ox are patient and modest, have a strong work ethic, and inspire confidence in others. They can also be stubborn—just like the ox.

The start of the Chinese New Year is one of the most important traditional celebrations in many Asian communities. Most people attend fireworks displays, celebrate at elaborate fairs, and have family reunions.

Many enjoy special dinners in which the foods served have symbolic meanings. A whole fish represents abundance, or having plenty of what you need. Shrimp can stand for happiness or laughter. Oysters represent good business. The symbolic meaning of these foods comes from the pronunciation of the words in Chinese.

Red and gold are the favorite colors for the Chinese New Year. Red symbolizes happiness and gold symbolizes wealth. People give one another red and gold envelopes that have money in them. Many people believe that wearing red on New Year's Day will bring them a bright and sunny future.

During the 15-day celebration, people who celebrate the holiday focus on good luck and try to remove all bad luck from their homes. Families often sweep the entire house before the New Year to symbolize “sweeping out bad luck.” But on New Year's Day, they do not do any sweeping to avoid sweeping away good luck.

China is one of the world's most populated countries and the largest in physical size. China is considered a world leader culturally, politically, and economically. You can learn more about the history of China and other Asian countries with this special Web Hunt activity from scholastic.com.

By Laura Leigh Davidson | January 29 , 2009 from scholastic.com.