For the Chinese, New Year celebrations are amongst the most important events of the year and festivities take place all over the world.  The Chinese New Year is a significant tradition with history dating back over 4000 years.  To put it in perspective, the year that began on January 31^st of 2014 marked the beginning of the 4712^th Chinese year.

The celebrations span a fairly long time period, beginning on the last day of the last month of the year as per the Chinese calendar and running until the 15^th day of the first month of the New Year.  It should be noted that the Chinese calendar is the lunar calendar, meaning that dates do not align with the traditionally recognized calendar months of a year.  As a result, the festivities will typically begin on different calendar days from one year to the next.  There is an animal associated with every upcoming New Year and it is believed that all individuals born within that year will possess certain characteristics relevant to that animal.  There are a total of 12 different animals that are cycled over the years in a rotation.

To prepare for the Chinese New Year celebrations, the Chinese participate in activities that represent bringing about a new life and new beginnings in the New Year.  They spend significant amounts of time freshening up their homes, organizing their lives, ridding themselves of problems, tackling nagging tasks and changing up their personal style.  They take these actions with the intention of turning over a new leaf and setting themselves up for success in the year to come.

Some common themes throughout the celebrations are dragons and the colours gold and red.  To begin, the colour red is a positive symbol in Chinese culture associated with power, happiness and scaring away the bad spirits.  Gold is associated with good fortune.  Gold and red are the typical colours used when decorating homes and venues for Chinese New Year festivities due to their positive symbolism in the culture.  Dragons are also commonly seen as they are recognized symbols of positive things including strength and luck.

The Chinese New Year celebrations begin with a late night feast on New Year’s Eve and a large and extravagant fireworks show when the clock strikes midnight.  From there, the events for the duration of the festivities are focused on enjoying food with close friends and family, exchanging gifts and wishing loved ones well in the new year.  To culminate the celebrations, there is a Lantern Festival on the 15^th day of the first month of the new year.  For this event, people carefully hang and carry beautiful glowing lanterns all over the city.  The lanterns are often painted with care, boasting beautiful designs such as zodiac signs or flowers.  There is also a large parade and a traditional dragon dance.  The entire Lantern Festival is elaborate and rich in traditional culture, making it a highlight for the Chinese who celebrate it and for others who have the opportunity to experience it.

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