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Chinese New Year February 7

Filed under SOM General Information
Posted by , February 07, 2008
View all posts for February 2008

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is celebrated with dragon dances/lion dances, fireworks, family gatherings, family meals, by visiting friends and
relatives and by giving red envelopes containing a monetary gift.
(The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck.) Chinese years are associated with one of 12 animals. For example 2008 is the Year of the Rat. This is regarded as a very practical system, since a child does not have to learn a new answer to the question, “How old are you?” in each new year. Old people often lose track of their age, because they are rarely asked about their present age. Every one just has to remember that he or she was born in the “Year of the Dog” or etc. Since 2008 is the Year of the Rat, any one who was born in the Year of the Rat is now either 1 or 13, 25, 37, 49, 61, 73, 85 or 97 years old.

(Sources: http://www.chinapage.com/newyear.html#animal and Wikipedia)