Chinese New Year

 What is the origin of Chinese New Year?

The oldest and most important festival in China is the Spring Festival, more commonly known in the West as Chinese New Year. Although the Gregorian calendar was adopted in China in 1912, Chinese the world over continue to regard the date given in the old Chinese lunar calendar as the beginning of the new year. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the year has 354 days and 12 lunar months, about half of them with 30 days and the other half with 29. In order to make the months correspond with the movements of the earth around the sun, a 13th month is inserted every two or three years. The New Year begins on the new moon and may occur at any time from January 1 to February 19, inclusive. The years are named for the animals of the Chinese zodiac - as the year of the rat, the ox, the tiger, the hare the dragon, and so on through the years named for the snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig before the next 12 year cycle begins with another year of the rat.

The Spring festival celebrates the earth coming back to life, and the start of plowing and sowing. In the past, feudal rulers of dynasties placed great importance on this occasion, and ceremonies to usher in the season were performed.

The origin of the Chinese New Year is itself centuries old - in fact, too old to actually be traced. It is popularly recognized as the Spring Festival and celebrations last 15 days.

There are three ways to name a Chinese year:

a)      By an animal . The new year is known as the Year of the Rooster. There are 12 animal names; so by this system, year names are re-cycled every 12 years.

b) By its Former Name. The new year is the year of Yiyou. By this system, the Name of the Year is repeated and re-cycled every 60 years.

c) It is Year 4702 by Chinese calendar.

What does the sign of the Rooster mean?

The sign of the Rooster indicates a person who is hard-working, conscientious, efficient, honorable, intelligent, meticulous and methodical. Self-reliant and independent, the Rooster is not one to seek counsel. They are confident and aggressive and are most at home in a crowd. A perfectionist, they leave no detail undocumented. Roosters will never abandon their dreams. and definite about their decisions. Roosters are not afraid to speak their minds and can therefore sometimes come across as boastful.

What does Chinese do in Chinese New Year?

Preparations tend to begin a month from the date of the Chinese New Year (similar to a Western Christmas), when people start buying presents, decoration materials, food and clothing. A huge clean-up gets underway days before the New Year, when Chinese houses are cleaned from top to bottom, to sweep away any traces of bad luck, and doors and windowpanes are given a new coat of paint, usually red. The doors and windows are then decorated with paper cuts and couplets with themes such as happiness, wealth and longevity printed on them.

On the day itself, an ancient custom called Hong Bao, meaning Red Packet, takes place. This involves married couples giving children and unmarried adults money in red envelopes. Then the family begins to say greetings from door to door, first to their relatives and then their neighbors. Like the Western saying "let bygones be bygones," at Chinese New Year, grudges are very easily cast aside.

The end of the New Year is marked by the Festival of Lanterns, which is a celebration with singing, dancing and lantern shows.

Although celebrations of the Chinese New Year vary, the underlying message is one of peace and happiness for family members and friends.

 There are also Arhats taming the dragon and holding the alms bowl.

There is an Arhat with a special feature of stretching his arms after a long period of sitting meditation.

 You will also see Arhat with a laughing face, and carrying a bag. Inside his bag are many valuable things to give to people to help them when they need it.

 The many Arhats that are placed around the Ch’an Garden to remind us that even though we all have different personalities each one of us has the potential to attain enlightenment one day if we are mindful and diligent in our efforts in achieving this goal.