The New Year celebration falls on January 26, 2009 this year. It is the year of the Ox, which is representative of "prosperity through fortitude and hard work," according to Wikipedia. Instead of doing the typical "History on Chinese New Year's" I'm going to touch upon some interesting aspects of the New Year such as what people eat and why, the traditions and symbols, and what Chinese people are doing all over the globe to celebrate!Traditional Foods
* Laba Zhou OR Eight Treasures Rice (glutinous rice, walnuts, dry fruit, raisins, sweet red bean paste, jujube dates, and almonds) - eaten on the eighth day of the celebrations and dates back to the legend of Laba Zhou. If you are interested reading the tale, go here!
-Black Sesame Rice Ball Soup
-Chicken, duck, fish and pork dishes
-Noodles - represent longevity!
-Tangerines and oranges - represent good wealth and fortune
-Dumplings - because they are delicious...and they represent prosperity
-FISH - fish is must-have New Year's food. The word "yu" sounds like another Chinese character "yu" which means wealth.
..yummm all this is making me hungry for some New Year's food.
Traditions and Symbols
Festival of Lanterns
There are 15 days to the celebration of the Chinese New Year. The 15th day is often known as The Festival of Lanterns and marks the end of the celebrations. Paper lanterns are hung and lit throughout the streets.
The Dragon
Class of 2010 and 2011 are made up of people born in the year of the dragon. woot woot. Many Chinese people see themselves as descendants of the dragon, so on the fifth and the last day of the celebrations, there are dancing dragon performances.
Celebrate Good Times...Come on!
London - Last year, London had dragons, performers from China, and even the Olympic Games mascot at their annual parade in Chinatown London. No doubt that there will be another one just as big this year!
BOSTON - NEXT Sunday, the 1st of February, there will be a lion dance winding through the streets of Boston Chinatown. Go into the city with your friends to celebrate! There will certainly be tons of entertainment and lots of great food.
Paris - I will be at a parade of my own next Sunday, Feb. 1st, in Paris Chinatown celebrating the New Year's festivities!! Watch out, I'm going to post some videos of the event soon afterwards! Paris Chinatown is one of the largest Chinatowns in Europe and always puts on a show that will surely please everyone.
For more information, visit these awesome sites I stumbled upon:
Until next time,
JenChen
