Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. Chinese months are reckoned by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chuxi. It literally means "Year-pass Eve". And the 15th day of the month is called Lantern Festival.
This was a time for the Chinese to congratulate each other and themselves on having passed through another year, a time to finish out the old, and to welcome in a new year. The 2009 date for Chinese New Year is January 26.
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Chinese Zodiac
The Chinese calendar follows a 12-year pattern with each year named after an animal. The legend is said that the Jade Emperor invited all of the animals to join him for a New Year celebration, but only 12 animals turned up. To reward the animals that did come, the Jade Emperor named a year after each of them in the order that they arrived, starting with the Rat, followed by the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.
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It is believed that the people born in the each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. 2009 is Ox year, and those born in ox years tend to be painters, engineers, and architects. They are stable, fearless, obstinate, hard-working and friendly.
