As many people around the world wind down from whatever New Year’s celebrations they observed, those in China and in several parts of Asia are just warming up to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Sometimes called the Lunar New Year because of the fact that it is determined by the Chinese lunisolar calendar, the Chinese New Year takes place either in January or February depending on the year’s presiding zodiac animal. This year’s zodiac animal is the ox, which means that the Chinese New Year will be celebrated on January 26, 2009.

Although the concept of the Chinese New Year originated solely in China, many cultures that have had large amounts of interaction with the Chinese have come to celebrate the Chinese New Year. These include the Taiwanese, Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Vietnamese people. Other countries, such as Singapore, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand have come to celebrate the Chinese New Year because of the large overseas Chinese populations integrating the holiday into the mainstream culture in these places. The celebration of the Chinese New Year lasts for many days and the focal point of the celebrations involves spending time with one’s family, as well as plenty of other traditions that have come about.

While the global community largely uses the Gregorian calendar to tell time, the ancient Chinese calendar is still largely influential in the Chinese cultural tradition. The Chinese calendar remains a sentimental relic to many Chinese people and is important in determining when traditional Chinese holidays occur. The Chinese New Year begins on the first day of the lunar month and ends on the fifteenth day, and when translated to the Gregorian calendar, this means that the Chinese New Year can occur anywhere from late January to the middle of February. As far as the mythology of the Chinese New Year goes, legend has it that the tradition began when the Chinese beast “Nian”, which translates to “year” in Chinese, fought with Chinese villagers. The beast would come on the first day of each New Year and devour livestock, crops, and villagers, especially vulnerable children. In order to remain safe from the Nian, villagers would put food outside their doorsteps in hopes that it would eat the food instead of the villagers, but eventually it was determined that the beast was afraid of the color red. It was also determined that the beast was scared of firecrackers. These two revelations paved the way for two important traditions that are practiced to this day: the use of fireworks and the importance of the color red throughout the celebration of the Chinese New Year.

An important part of the celebration of the Chinese New Year is visiting one’s family, which makes the period of time near the Chinese New Year extremely busy for transportation services. Ethnic Chinese people throughout China and all over the world return to China to visit loved ones, enjoying special reunion dinners. These tend to be very large dinners and often involve chicken, a traditional component of the meal. Tracing back to the legend of the Nian beast is the importance of the color red in decorations and in clothing. Inside and out, buildings are covered in red decorations and children wear special red outfits. Children are also given red packets by parents, grandparents, and other elder relatives containing a specific amount of money. Superstition dictates that the amount of money given should not end in an odd number and that money should not be given in fours, nor should the number appear in the amount.

Each part of the celebration of the Chinese New Year has a special significance. In the days leading up to the New Year, families thoroughly clean their homes and prepare for any reunion dinners that may be coming up. On the first day of the New Year, families visit the oldest, most senior members of the extended family, and fireworks are often displayed. The second day of the year is when married daughters visit their birth parents. Also, businesspeople utter a special prayer that will give their business good fortune. The third and fourth days are inappropriate days to visit family, for various superstitious reasons. The fifth day of the New Year is celebrated with special foods, such as dumplings in Northern China, and in Taiwan, business reopen. The seventh day is the day when everybody grows one day older, and the ninth day is when Chinese people offer a prayer to the Jade Emperor of Heaven. Finally, the fifteenth day, which marks the end of festivities, is celebrated through the Lantern Festival where families walk to temples carrying lanterns.

As the Chinese New Year is ringing in the year of the ox, Chinese thought has it that those born within this year will share certain characteristics. This dates back to the legend in which Buddha called all animals to come to him on the Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each of them, stating that anybody born within the year would have some of their characteristics. People born in the year of the ox lean towards being painters, engineers, and architects, and are often more stubborn and fearless. They are also hardworking, stable, and friendly. As many parts of the world have a similar system but based on different time periods throughout the year, Chinese cultural tradition holds that the year of one’s birth dictates certain characteristics of the person.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated in many parts of the United States, especially those with large Chinese populations or an intrinsic connection to Chinese immigration. One of the most popular ways to do so involves the parade, an American traditions that Chinese immigrants adopted in the 1860s to showcase the Chinese New Year celebrations to their new countrymen. Today, cities such as San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles have prominent parades on the date of the Chinese New Year. Canada and Australia also have large Chinese minorities that host parades in major cities there. Other places, such as Butte, Montana, have prominent celebrations of the Chinese New Year because of the importance of Chinese culture within these places and the role it played in the development of the city.

The Chinese New Year has a large assortment of traditions and superstitions around its celebration because of the huge span of time in which it has been observed. Although it originated in China, it has spread throughout the world to become a holiday that is widely celebrated in Asia and in other parts of the world where the Chinese have made a cultural impression. As 2009 marks the year of the ox, one can expect any babies that are born this year to share qualities of stubbornness and resilience if Chinese tradition is to be trusted. Most of all, though, the Chinese New Year is a time for Chinese families to come together and enjoy the company of one another. The Gregorian calendar has made the Chinese New Year a ceremonial holiday by nature, but the cultural significance of the celebration of the Chinese New Year and the traditions that are practiced to this day are still very important to Chinese society.