Wonders About Chinese New Year

You will be surprised by the number of Calendars teh world is still using. It is over 50 different calenders, which means 50 different new years celebrations. We all celebrate the new years Eve and countdown the last seconds to bid goodbye to the current year and welcome the new one, but Chinese new year celebration is a whole new level of celebrations,

Chinese New Year always falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. Other Asian countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam also celebrate new year using the lunar calendar.
The celebration extends for 15 days , it is the longest new year celebration period in the world.

Chinese families take long hours trips to visit their families and celebrate the new years Eve with them.
There is a variety of ancient customs that are unfortunately starting to fade, But the most important ones are the Lion Dance , the firecrackers and the red lanterns and paper cutouts on doors. As there is a story behind.

The Lion dance Story 

Legend has it long ago there was a people- eating monster called NIAN , it was so scary that looked like ether a dragon a lion or a unicorn (Funny because Unicorns are beautiful!!!). On the first and the 15th of every first month of the lunar year, the monster would come out of the mountains and seek the villages t o eat their people.  the fright and fear grew into their hearts that they would no longer open their doors or celebrate that period . Until one day , an old wise man suggested to make noises by beating drums and lightening fireworks and hanging red lanterns on their doors supposedly the Monster is afraid of the color red. 

The next time the monster appeared during the coldest nights of winter, the villagers did exactly as what the old wise man told them to do. As expected the plan worked and the monster was so frightened by the noises coming from teh firecrackers and teh drums that he went running in every direction until he fell from exhaustion. Then people killed it and celebrated their united efforts.

Since then, Chinese have kept the tradition by beating drums and gongs and playing with firecrackers ( It doesn't sound as pleasant if you are trying so hard to sleep at 3 am and they haven't stopped the noises yet)

HAPPY HORSE YEAR