Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year (春节, 农历新年 or 过年) or the Spring Festival is celebrated at a new moon in January or February. Traditionally, red packets are passed out on Chinese New Year's Eve, and then Chinese New Year is celebrated with firecrackers. The New Year's Eve dinner is very large and includes chicken. The New Year's day dinner is typically vegetarian.

The date is determined by the rules of the Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar. The same calendar is used in countries that have adopted the Confucian and Buddhism tradition and in many cultures influenced by the Chinese, notably the Tibetans and the pagan Bulgarss.

Some Chinese New Year dates (in the Gregorian calendar) are listed below (with a type of Cantonese romanization for the animals):

Animal
Dates
Rooster - Yaw5
1993 January 23 2005 February 9
Dog - Sot1
1994 February 10 2006 January 29
Pig - Hoi6
1995 January 31 2007 February 18
Rat - Zi2
1996 February 19
Ox - Caw2
1997 February 7
Tiger - Yant4
1998 January 28
Rabbit - Mau5
1999 February 16
Dragon - Sant4
2000 February 5
Snake - Zi6
2001 January 24
Horse - Ng5
2002 February 12
Goat - Mey6
2003 February 1
Monkey - Sant1
2004 January 22

See Chinese zodiac for a list of Chinese New Year dates over the last century.

Mythology

In Chinese mythology, several legends are related to the Chinese new year. Examples include:

See also