Welcoming the Chinese New Year!

Next Sunday, February 14 is a very auspicious day. Under the lunar calendar, it is the beginning of the first new moon for the first month of the Chinese calendar, and is also Valentine’s Day, the hearts day celebrated worldwide.

More commonly known as the Chinese New Year, and called the Lunar New Year by China’s geographic neighbors, this is the most important traditional holiday for many in Asia. In the Chinese calendar, the beginning of the year falls somewhere between late January and early February, depending on the first day of the new moon of the first month of the new year. The popular Chinese New Year greetings are:

GONG XI FA CHAI THIAM HOK SIU Gung Hei Fat Choy!

(The first is Mandarin; the second,Amoy, the third Cantonese. All literally “Wishing you prosperity!” – a popular Chinese greeting on New Year’s day Xin Nien Kuai Le! SIN Ni Kwai Lok! SIN Sun Nin Fy Lok! (The first is Mandarin; the second Amoy, the third Cantonese. All literally meaning “New Year Happiness!” or “Happy New Year!”

The Lunar New Year is celebrated by the large populations of ethnic Chinese, as well as cultures all over Asia and in countries with significant Chinese population. Asians also call this the Spring Festival where school is close for the winter holidays. Understandably, non- Chinese Asians call this holiday the Lunar New Year instead of Chinese New Year although they are celebrated simultaneously.

While we see the poinsettias blooming in November into December, my garden poinsettias are in their best bloom in January into the first two weeks of February. I realize that the real cool weather is in January when winter is coldest up in northern China and the cold wind comes down through our archipelago.

The plants respond to the lunar calendar, just us we feel the cool weather, the best for us here in the tropics, just about the months of January and February.

Part of the welcoming of the Chinese New Year is the excitement people look forward to the Chinese Zodiac sign. These are the 12 animal signs that represent a cyclical concept of time in a 12-year cycle instead of the western linear concept of time. In the west, the Years are dated from the birth of Christ so 2010 means 2,010 years after the birth of Christ. The Chinese have adopted the western calendar since 1911 but the lunar calendar is used to welcome the other “New Year”.

Under the lunar Calendar, very year is assigned an animal name or “sign” according to a repeating cycle beginning with the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. Every twelve years the same animal name or “sign” would reappear.

In 1988, it was the year of the tiger, 12 years after, in 2010 it is the year of the Tiger. Please remember that if your birthday is sometime January or early February, your birth sign belongs to the previous year.