When is Chinese New Year 2016?

Chinese new year is on Monday, February 8 (The year of Monkey)

• 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.

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2016 — The Year of the Monkey

Monkey years: 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, and 2028.

Luckiest Things for "Monkeys"

Lucky numbers: 4 and 9
Lucky flowers: chrysanthemum, crape-myrtle
Lucky direction: north, northwest, west
Lucky months: the 8th and 12th Chinese lunar months.
Lucky days: the 14th and 28th of any Chinese lunar calendar month
Lucky colors: white, blue, gold

Unlucky for Monkeys

Unlucky colors: red, pink
Unlucky numbers: 2 and 7
Unlucky direction: south, southeast
Worst lunar months: 7th and 11th Chinese lunar months

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What Type of "Monkey " Are You ?

Type of Monkey	Year of Birth	Characteristics
Wood Monkey	1944, 2004	Always ready to help others. Compassionate, strong self-esteem but stubborn
Fire Monkey	1956, 2016	Ambitious and adventurous but irritable
Earth Monkey	1908, 1968	Frank, optimistic and fearless
Gold Monkey	1920, 1980	Smart, quick-witted and confident but also irritable and stubborn
Water Monkey	1932, 1992	Smart, quick-witted, fond of being in the limelight but haughty

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