We all love Chinese food, but do we really know much about the Chinese culture? This past Friday, February 16, 2018, the Chinese New Year came once again. What makes this holiday so unique is that it occurs annually, but on a different day each time? Last year it was on January 28th, and next year it’s on February 5th. Why is it that this is the case?

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Well, the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is celebrating the start of a new year which differs based off of the Gregorian Calendar, according to History.com. Unlike how we celebrate our New Year, one night a year waiting for the clock to hit midnight, the Chinese New Year is the longest of the Chinese festivals. Businesses come to a stop and schools are let out; everyone focuses their attention at the holiday. Houses are thoroughly cleaned to cleanse of “huiqui,” or inauspicious breaths, because they can build up over the year. The gods would be coming down from heaven, which is another reason that cleaning was so crucial. Large banquets for family and friends are held and offerings are made for the household deities. Everything about this celebration is very traditional, and the most exciting part of the festival is that the people get to purchase new clothes, particularly in red.

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They then participate in parades with lion and dragon dances that include instruments, acrobats and symbolic dancing. Often the New Year will include a lantern festival where families will decorate and hang lanterns on the temples, or carry them to the parades. Unlike our New Year, kids receive gifts for their holiday. They will often get a red envelope full of lucky money.

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As you can tell, this festival is something that the people in Asia really enjoy. This holiday gives a chance for adults to take off work and spend time with family and friends, and there are a lot of factors to the festival that draw the kids in as well. One of the main features of the celebration is each year of the Chinese calendar getting assigned an animal. Legend has it that Buddha promised gifts to all animals that would pay him homage. The twelve animals that came to honor him are the twelve animals that are the ones given the twelve years of the Chinese zodiac. The signs repeat and people, especially children, have come to believe they inherit characteristics from the zodiac animal of the year they were born. Places outside of Asia have even adapted to celebrating this holiday through the zodiac. I remember being in elementary school and learning about what specific zodiac animal was celebrated on each of our birth years. The animals consist of the monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, and sheep. Whether you’re timid and “sheepish,” or used to “monkeying” around, the holiday says that’s because of the year you were born. Places like San Francisco, California even are adapting to aspects of this celebration. They claim that their Chinese New Year parade is the biggest celebration of its kind outside of Asia. This festival is often passed by Americans, or anyone outside of Asia, but in reality, we tend to help them celebrate their biggest holiday.