One of the biggest holiday’s on the Chinese calendar is the second new moon after the winter solstice – the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year. The fifteen day festival starts on the day of the second new moon after the winter solstice.

The festival includes food, family and red and gold banners to ward off evil and bring good luck.

The Chinese New Year is almost as much about the preparation as it is the day itself. Many children can be seen with brooms, sweeping away last year’s bad luck to make room for the good luck of this year.

Children get new clothes and hair cuts – not just to look fresh, but to make yourself ready for the new year. Parents also give their children money in small read envelopes. This is another sign of good luck.

Oranges and other citrus fruits are great decorations. Bowls of tangerines will bring good luck.

The big Chinese New Year meal includes a big soup with dumplings, whole fish, 8 precious rice pudding – a rice dish that includes eight kinds of dried fruits.

The highlight of the holiday is the Chinese New Year parade. Lion Dancers march down the street making way for the dragon.

Chinese New Year celebrations are a celebration of family and ancestry. Relatives are remembered as the foundation for the current generation. For adopted children, this is commonly a time to reconnect with their Chinese heritage and to celebrate the roots of their adoptive family.

2007: Pig
2008: Rooster
2009: Dragon
2010:Ox
2011: Sheep
2012: Horse
2013: Rabbit
2014: Snake
2015 Monkey
2016: Rat
2017: Tiger

Chinese New Year is on February 18, 2007.

Happy New Year!