Gong Hay Fat Choi!

You may or may not know, February 9th is Chinese New Year!!!

You dont have to be Chinese to celebrate it and well I’m certainly not but I love a celebration.

Some history: The Chinese Lunar New Year is the longest chronological record in history, dating from 2600BC, when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the zodiac. Like the Western calendar, The Chinese Lunar Calendar is a yearly one, with the start of the lunar year being based on the cycles of the moon. Therefore, because of this cyclical dating, the beginning of the year can fall anywhere between late January and through February. This year it falls on February 9th. A complete cycle takes 60 years and is made up of five cycles of 12 years each.

The Chinese Lunar Calendar names each of the twelve years after an animal. Legend has it that the Lord Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he departed from earth. Only twelve came to bid him farewell and as a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The Chinese believe the animal ruling the year in which a person is born has a profound influence on personality, saying: “This is the animal that hides in your heart.”

This year is the year of the Rooster. Woot! Hmmm too bad my fam doesn’t know the tradition and won’t be kickin down some red envelopes….