MOST of us are grateful for the celebration of this holiday in our country, as we are given the chance to take that much-needed break from the stress and pressures of everyday work, particularly now that we are still facing the risks of the Covid-19 Omicron variant in our midst.
The Chinese New Year, also called as Spring festival, is the grandest and most important celebration in the Chinese culture. The significance that Chinese people have for this festival is comparable to our anticipation and high regard for the Christmas and New Year celebrations which is the apt time for families to get together and celebrate the holidays.
It comes on the first day of Chinese lunar calendar and lasts for almost half of a month. But in folk custom, this traditional holiday lasts from the 23rd day of the twelfth month to the 15th day of the first month (Lantern Festival) in the lunar calendar. Among these days, the Eve and the first day Spring Festival holiday is the peak time. The exact days are different in every year according to the lunar calendar. The preparation starts 7 days before the New Year’s Eve. According to Chinese lunar calendar, people start to clean the house on December 24, butcher on December 26th and so on. People have certain things to do on each day. These activities will end January 15th of the lunar calendar.
Every family does a thorough house cleaning and purchases enough food, including fish, meat, roasted nuts and seeds, all kinds of candies and fruits, etc, for the festival period. Also, new clothes must be bought, especially for children. Red scrolls with complementary poetic couplets, one line on each side of the gate, are pasted at every gate. The Chinese character 'Fu' is pasted on the center of the door and paper-cut pictures adorn windows.
According to chinahighlights.com, 2022 is a Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac, more specifically, the Year of Water Tiger, starting from February 1st, 2022, and lasting until January 21st, 2023. People born in a year of the Tiger are predicted to be brave, competitive, unpredictable, and confident. They will experience their zodiac birth sign year (benmingnian) in 2022, which is considered bad luck. It is believed that wearing red underwear and socks will help Tigers ward off misfortune.
For this year, those born under the zodiac signs Ox and Goat are the two luckiest zodiac signs. Rabbit, Dragon, Horse, and Rooster people are destined to enjoy a smooth life and good luck in making money in 2022. Meanwhile, those born in years of the Rat, Snake, Monkey, Dog, and Pig will need to make comparatively more effort in order to make achievements in this year of the Tiger.
We are one with the Chinese community in welcoming the Chinese New Year! May the bold Chinese New Year firecracker scare away the bad luck and welcome the good luck all through the year!