February 5 starts the
Chinese New Year which corresponds to the
lunisolar calendar. The holiday is also called the
Spring
Festival and is celebrated by Chinese communities around the world.
Festivities around this time are driven by a desire for prosperity and
good will. For instance, houses are cleaned in hopes of expelling bad
luck and making way for good luck. Debts are paid. Grudges are
forgotten. Encouraging messages (such as
福
which means good fortune) are hung up everywhere. Gifts are given.
On New Year's Eve, it is customary for families to reunite and enjoy
dinner together.
As
the new year begins, firecrackers and fireworks are set off in
multitude to cast out evil spirits and celebrate a fresh start. On this
day (the first of fifteen)
dragon and
lion dances are performed. Elders are visited by their descendants.
Gifts of money are given to younger family members. People try to get as much good luck as possible.
Further festivities can be enjoyed for the next two weeks, including several birthdays. A couple examples are the
God of Wealth's birthday on the second day (Feb. 6) and the “
common man's birthday” on the seventh day (Feb. 11). On the fifteenth day (Feb. 20) the new year's celebration is concluded with the
Lantern Festival. For this last day of the Spring Festival, candles are lit and lanterns are paraded through the streets.
2019 is the year of the pig. More specifically it is the
yin earth pig. In Chinese astrological beliefs, birth years follow
cycles. The twelve-year
zodiac cycle goes like this: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and then pig. The ten-year
elemental cycle is as follows: wood, wood, fire, fire, earth, earth, metal, metal, water, water. The two-year
yin-yang cycle is, obviously, yin then yang. These patterns combine to form one overall sixty-year cycle.
Astrologers
use these cycles to determine the character traits and fortunes of a
person based on birth year. According to the sixty-year cycle, 2018 was
the year of the yang earth dog, and 2020 will be of the yang metal rat.
The astrological beliefs are so widespread that Chinese
communities experience an
increase in birth rates during dragon years.
Parents try to have their children born on those years because
the dragon is the best zodiac animal. If you are born in a year of the
dragon, so the astrologers say, you will be smarter, luckier, and more
successful in life than if you were born any other year.
