Chinese new year It’s time to celebrate!

While most of the world celebrates the coming of the New Year according to the Georgian calendar, people of different cultures also celebrate the New Year according to their tradition. Among them the Lunar New Year is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunar-solar Chinese calendar. For fifteen days, billions of people in China, as well as those from Asian countries including Indonesia and Vietnam, celebrate the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival. This year it began on February 14.

Marked by the arrival of spring, it is an event with deep rooted historical significance and supports various myths and legends. There’s much symbolism attached to each new ear on the lunar calendar and many traditions are followed in hopes of an auspicious start. Each year is represented by one of 12 zodiac animals that reflect traditional Chinese culture, including how people see themselves and their relationship with the world.

According to the Chinese zodiac, this is the 4715th year of the Dog, described a good year for actions, events and movements. The dog became one of the zodiac animals because of its close relationship with people (link in Chinese). China is one of the earliest countries to have domesticated dogs from grey wolves. China’s Hemudu culture, which existed from 5500 to 3300 BC, was one of the first to domestic dogs, according to fossils unearthed by researchers. According to Chinese folklore, the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven, also selected the dog as one of the twelve zodiacs for its wisdom. In Chinese culture, people born during the year of the dog are believed to inherit some of the animal’s characteristics, such as loyalty, patience, and reliability.

In Asian cultures, red is a very important colour — it symbolises good luck, joy, prosperity, celebration, happiness and a long life. Red is an auspicious as well as a popular colour in Chinese culture. It symbolizes luck, happiness and joy. It is the colour worn by brides, since it is believed to be an auspicious color for warding off evil. It also represents vitality, celebration and fertility in traditional Chinese color symbolism. This colour is said to scare off mythical monsters and is believed to guard people against all evil spirits, demons and bad luck.