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All about Chinese new year 2010 and how to celebrate

Get ready to learn all about Chinese New Year, from age-old traditions to crafts and activities your family can partake in to celebrate the holiday at home.

All about Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is a holiday that celebrates the beginning of a new year according to the lunar calendar. It is considered to be one of the most important holidays for Chinese families.

The holiday is celebrated with big family gatherings, gift giving, the eating of symbolic foods and display of festive decorations--all focused on bringing good luck for the new year and celebrating the coming of Spring.

When Is Chinese New Year?
The start of Chinese New Year changes every year since it is dictated by the lunar calendar. The Gregorian or solar calendar--which is based on the Earth's movement around the sun and has a fixed number of 365 days a year (366 during a leap year)--is the most widely used calendar system in the world and has been the official calendar used in China since 1912.

But in China the lunar calendar is still used to determine traditional holidays like Chinese New Year.  Since the lunar calendar is based on the phases of the moon-- which has a shorter cycle than the sun--Chinese New Year is never on the same day each year, but typically falls somewhere between January 21st and February 20th. For 2008, Chinese New Year falls on February 7th. In 2009 it falls on January 26th.

How Long Do Chinese New Year Celebrations Last?
According to Daria Ng, Assistant Curator of Education at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas in New York City, celebrations can actually last up to a month,  especially in China.

Originally the celebrations lasted for lengthy amounts of time because China was a very agriculture-based country so farmers took the whole month off to rest since crops couldn't be planted during the winter. Nowadays most families celebrate the New Year for about two week's time, says Ng, starting on the first day of the new year and end on the 15th.

There are many traditions and symbols associated with Chinese New Year. Here are a handful of the most popular practices.

For more Chinese New Year fun, be sure to visit our Chinese New Year crafts, Chinese New Year recipes, and learn about Chinese astrology too!

Clean house and new clothes
According to Celebrate Chinese New Year by Elaine A. Kule, prior to the first day of the New Year it is customary for families to thoroughly clean their homes from top to bottom. Doing this is said to clear out any back luck from the previous year and to ready the house to accept good luck for the coming year.

All cleaning must be finished before New Year's Day so there is no chance of accidentally throwing out the good fortune of the new year. "Before New Year's Day you want to buy new clothes or cut your hair" in order to have a fresh start, says Ng. Wearing black is not allowed due to its association with death, however, wearing red is encouraged as the color is associated with warding off bad spirits.

Decorate the house
Another popular custom is to hang up signs and posters on doors and windows with the Chinese word fu written on them, which translates to luck and happiness.  Buying flowers for the home is also commonplace since they symbolize the coming of spring and a new beginning. In Chinese neighborhoods, special lunar New Year flower markets often sprout up during the days prior to the New Year. Check out our charming plum blossom craft and other Chinese New Year decorations you can make for your home.

Eat with your family
On the eve of the Chinese New Year it is customary to visit with relatives and partake in a large dinner where a number of specific foods are served.

"Typically families do eight or nine dishes because they are lucky numbers," says Grace Young, author of The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen. "The Chinese word for eight is baat [in Cantonese], which rhymes with faat, the word for prosperity." The word for nine means "long-lasting."

"A lot of the foods are very symbolic," explains Ng.  Some popular foods include: dumplings ("because they look like golden nuggets" says Ng), oranges ("because they are perfectly round, symbolizing completeness and wholeness"), and long noodles ("served to symbolize long life").

Sticky rice cakes and sweets are also served and are tied to a story about the Kitchen God-- a Santa Claus-like figure who reports to the Jade Emperor in heaven on whether families have been good or bad through the course of the year. According to legend, when families serve the Kitchen God sticky, delicious foods, his mouth gets stuck together and therefore he cannot report any bad things about the family to the Jade Emperor.

Want to whip up some dishes for your Chinese New Year celebration? Check out our story "Chinese New Year Dishes" as well as our best-loved Chinese recipes on Kaboose.

Here are some more traditions associated with Chinese New Year.

Give good luck gifts
It is a traditional practice for adults to give children little red envelopes--hong bao in Mandarin or lai-see in Cantonese--filled with money in order to symbolize wealth and prosperity for the coming year. It is also common for elders to bestow red packets to unmarried members of the family. It is a sign of respect to bow three times in order to accept the hong bao. Envelopes are not to be opened until the recipient has left the home of the giver.

Make lanterns
The New Year's festivities come to an end on the fifteenth day of the new year, which is celebrated by the Lantern Festival. According to the book Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats by Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz, and the Children's Museum, Boston, the Lantern Festival honors the first full moon of the year and represents the coming of springtime.

Families will light lanterns, which symbolize the brightness of spring, and hang them on walls around the house, or on poles to be carried in lantern parades. You can create kid-friendly paper lantern crafts with your children in order to honor this tradition.

Honor the animal
Every year is associated with one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, with each animal being represented once every 12 years.  These animals are often represented in decorations during the holiday. Figure out which is your Chinese zodiac animal and discover what famous people also share your sign by reading our article "Chinese Astrology: Animals of the Chinese Zodiac."

Make cute crafts of this year's Zodiac animal, the rat. Check out our Clay Pot Rat craft created by our craft expert, Amanda Formaro.

Some people believe that those born during the year of a particular animal will end up with the character traits of that animal. For example, if you were born during the year of the rat, you will grow up to be imaginative and cunning.

Here are a few ways you family can celebrate Chinese New Year in your very own home or town.

Make Chinese New Year crafts
Teach kids about Chinese heritage while they are having fun! Try making lovely crafts such as Chinese orange trays, red envelopes or plum blossoms or any other of the fantastic Chinese New Year artsy activities we have featured on Kaboose.

Read Chinese New Year books
Check out our list of great Chinese New Year books for kids and adults as well as the following list which was hand-selected for us by Sue E. Yee, Senior Children's Librarian of the Chatham Square Branch of the New York Public Library in New York City!

Preschoolers (ages 3-4)

My First Chinese New Year. Karen Katz. Henry Holt and Company, 2004.
Bright/vibrant collages illustrate this simple introduction to Chinese New Year.
This Next New Year. Janet S. Wong. Illustrated by YangSook Choi.  Frances Foster, 2000.
A young boy describes how his Chinese-Korean family prepares for and celebrates the Lunar New Year.
Grade Schoolers (Ages 5-7 = K-2nd Grade)

Celebrating Chinese New Year. Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith. Photographs by Lawrence Migdale. Holiday House, 1998.
Follow 10-year-old Ryan as he and his family prepare for Chinese New Year in San Francisco.
Chinese New Year Crafts. Karen E. Bledsoe. Enslow PubPublishers, 2005.
Ten simple crafts for Chinese New Year.
Happy New Year: Kung-his fa-ts’ai. Demi. Crown, 1997.
Reissued as: Happy, Happy Chinese New Year.  Crown, 2003.
Basic information about the customs of Chinese New Year, profusely illustrated with Demi’s detailed drawings.The original Happy New Year (1997) is larger in format and contains a little more information.
Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan’s Chinese New Year. Kate Waters & Madeline Sklovenz-Low. Photographs by Martha Cooper. Scholastic, 1990.
This is the first time 6 year old Ernie will be performing the lion dance in public. Follow him and his family in NYC’s Chinatown as they prepare for and celebrate Chinese New Year. 
The Rooster’s Antlers: A Story of the Chinese Zodiac. Eric A Kimmel. Illustrated by YongSheng Xuan. Holiday House, 1999.
Dragon and Centipede trick Rooster into giving up his beautiful golden horns. Also explains how and why the zodiac animals were chosen. The colorful illustrations are  reminiscent of traditional Chinese papercuts.
Sam and the Lucky Money. Karen Chinn. Illustrated by Cornelius van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu.   Lee & Low Books, 1995
Set in a modern day Chinatown, Sam must decide how to spend his Chinese New Year “leisee” money. He is disappointed when he realizes that he does not have enough to buy the toy that he wants. In the end, he decides to give his money to a homeless man.
Story of the Chinese Zodiac. Retold by Monica Chang. Illustrated by Arthur Lee. English Translation by Rick Charette. Yuan-Liou, 1994
Cut paper 3-dimensional collage retelling the animals’ race,  rat’s treachery and explains why cat is not one of the zodiac animals.
Tweens (Ages 8-12 = 3rd-6th Grade)

Cat and Rat: The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac.  Ed Young.  H.  Holt, 1995.
Tells of the animals' race, Rat’s betrayal and why Cat is not one of the zodiac animals. The illustrations are charcoal and pastels on a dark background, making this more appropriate for the older crowd.
The Chinese Book of Animal Powers.  Al Chung-liang Huang.  HarperCollins, 1999. 
Large calligraphy-like illustrations depict each of the zodiac animals and explain their strengths and weaknesses.
Exploring Chinatown: A Children’s Guide to Chinese Culture.  Carol Stepanchuk.  Illustrated by Leland Wong.  Pacific View Press, 2002.
By taking a tour of a fictitious generic Chinatown, Chinese food, traditional medicine, language and writing, festivals, religion and art are explored. Includes recipes and suggestions for activities.
Moonbeams, Dumplings and Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities and Recipes. Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz & The Children’s Museum of Boston. Gulliver Bks/Harcourt Inc, 2002.
Presents background information, related stories and activities for five Chinese holidays: Chinese New Year, the Lantern Festival, Qing Ming, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-autumn Moon Festival.
Check out a local Chinese New Year parade
Chinese New Year parades are grand celebrations where people come out to happily carouse with one another.

In addition to floats, fireworks, performances, and marching bands, parades often feature people performing "dragon" or "lion dances"--a ritual in which a group of dancers gets under an elaborately decorated dragon or lion costume with a long silky train, and visits the homes and businesses to scare away bad luck. It is common practice for the home or business owners to "feed" red envelopes to the animal to promote good luck for the coming year, says Daria Ng, Assistant Curator of Education for MOCA.

All about Chinese new year 2010 and how to celebrate