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| Of all the holidays in the Chinese lunar calendar, the New Year festival is the most exciting and colorful. It's a time when friends and family come together to celebrate the promise of prosperity and share the pleasures of the table. |
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Dates: |
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February 7, 2008 — February 21, 2008 |
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Chinese Lunar Year: |
4706, Year of the Rat (1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008) |
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Chinese Zodiac: |
The Chinese lunar calendar follows an annual zodiac cycle, which repeats every 12 years, with each year symbolized by an animal. |
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Theme: |
Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival, a celebration of renewal and coming prosperity. |
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Colors: |
Red (for good luck) and gold (for prosperity) (Note: White flowers and decorations should be avoided because they symbolize death in some Asian cultures.) |
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Greeting: |
Gung Hay Fat Choy ("Wishing you happiness and prosperity") |
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Foods: |
Fried foods (symbolizing gold and prosperity); noodles (long life); whole fish (togetherness and abundance); pot-sticker dumplings; sweet rice dumplings; lotus seeds. |
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Symbols: |
Lion-dragons; lanterns; incense; flowers, especially spring blossoms; oranges and tangerines; kumquats; red envelopes; firecrackers. |
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Traditions: |
To start the festival, vows are made, homes are cleaned, debts are paid, new clothing, and new rice and other foods are purchased. Families gather for a festive banquet on the eve of the New Year. A parade features a giant dancing lion-dragon made of silk and paper, accompanied by drums, gongs, cymbals and firecrackers to scare away evil spirits. People visit friends, exchange gifts and trays of candy, and give small red envelopes containing money (lai si) to children and young, unmarried adults. Red scrolls bearing "Spring Couplets" in classical Chinese are hung in doorways to bring good luck. Houses are decorated with lanterns on the last day of the festival. |
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A Rat Year: |
Those born in rat years tend to be leaders, pioneers, and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. |
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Famous people born in the Year of the Rat: |
Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, William Shakespeare, and Mozart |
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