This year, Chinese New Year runs from February 5 to 19 but celebrations kick off on New Year’s Eve, February 4. The festival is usually called Spring Festival in China, where the day is a major national holiday. But it doesn’t fall on the same date each year as it’s determined by the Chinese lunar calendar.
Why do the Chinese mark the lunar new year?
The Chinese lunar calendar, on which Chinese New Year is based, functioned as a religious, dynastic and social guide in ancient times.
Oracle bones inscribed with astronomical records indicate the calendar existed as early as 14th century BC, when the Shang Dynasty was in power.
The calendar’s structure wasn’t static: it was reset according to which emperor held power and varied from one region to another.
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The calendar was complex in ancient times, with its parameters set according to lunar phases as well as solar solstices and equinoxes.
Yin and yang, the opposing but complementary principles that make up a harmonious world, also ruled the calendar.
Chinese New Year typically begins with the new moon that occurs between the end of January and the end of February.
The celebration lasts about 15 days, until the full moon arrives with the Festival of Lanterns.
Why does each year have an animal?
The Chinese calendar also included the Chinese zodiac, the cycle of twelve stations or “signs” along the apparent path of the sun through the cosmos.
The general consensus is the zodiacs originally had something to do with the worship of animals.
A zodiac system has existed in Chinese culture since the Qin dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago.
Each new year was marked by the characteristics of one of the 12 zodiac animals: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
This year is the Year of the Pig.
Zodiac signs play an integral part in Chinese culture, and can be used to determine your fortune for the year.
According to the zodiac, people born in the year of the Pig are logical and good problem-solvers.
They aren’t good communicators but they’re kind and able to provide for the family.
Most of them are wealthy, says the zodiac, and their only obvious fault is that they lose their temper easily.