When is Chinese New Year 2017?

Chinese new year is on Saturday, January 28 (The year of Rooster)

The Chinese regard New Year as their most important and longest celebrations, spanning for a period of 15 days.

The Chinese New Year (also called 'Spring Festival') is based on the lunar–solar (or lunisolar) calendar and begins on the first day of the first month of the New Year.

Days before the New Year celebrations, the Chinese take an off from work to prepare for the upcoming festivities. Such is the importance of this particular festival! They clean their homes to get rid of previous year's bad luck and cook meals before the New Year begins because killing animals on New Year's Day is considered to bring misfortune.

• Throughout the 15 days of the New Year celebrations, the Chinese have specific tasks to perform on each day and on the last day, i.e., the 15th day, the Lantern Festival is celebrated.
• An important custom on New Year's eve is the family reunion dinner called 'Nian Ye Fan' which includes a sumptuous feast. Dumplings and glutinous rice cakes are popular dishes.
• According to ancient Chinese history, the New Year was celebrated to honor Gods and ancestors. During this time in China, one will see a lot of red colored embellishments, Chinese paper cut-outs and couplets hanging on walls and doors. Firecrackers are also lit during the Chinese New Year.
• There is a certain legend behind all these decorations. It is said that a beast called Nian used to come on the first day of New Year and eat people in villages. To frighten the monster, villagers began hanging red lanterns outside their homes and lighting fireworks. Following this, Nian never troubled them.
• As many of you would know, every Chinese New Year is associated with one of twelve animals in the Chinese Zodiac.
• These include the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. But do you know how this came to be? Although there have been many explanations, a popular one is that when Lord Buddha asked all animals to meet him on New Year's Day, only twelve showed up. He then named each year after every animal.

....................................................................................................................

2017 — The Year of the Rooster

Luckiest Things for "Roosters"

Lucky numbers: 5, 7 and 8
Lucky flowers: gladiola, cockscomb
Lucky direction: south, southeast
Lucky months: 2nd, 5th, and 11th Chinese lunar months
Lucky days: 4th and 26th of any Chinese lunar month
Lucky colors: gold, brown, and yellow

Unlucky for Roosters

Unlucky colors: red
Unlucky numbers: 1, 3, and 9
Unlucky direction: east
Worst lunar months: 3rd, 9th, and 12th Chinese lunar months

.................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................