Hi ECF forum members and Happy Chinese New Year 新年快樂!
February 10th marks this year's Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is the longest holiday that the Chinese celebrate. Although not so much in other parts of the world, the Chinese start celebrating on the first day of the month until about 2 weeks afterwards (which is why you see a lot of chinese e cig vendors out on holiday). Not only do the Chinese celebrate this holiday, but so do Vietnamese, Singaporeans, Thais, Indonesians, and Filipinos. The tradition for Chinese New Year is to clean your house and "sweep away" all the ill-fortunes to make way for good fortune, wealth, longevity, and happiness for the new year. yeah...the Chinese are a very superstition bunch.
Some Facts About This Year's Chinese New Year:
This year is the Year of the Snake! If you do not know, there are 12 Zodiac animals represented in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. These animals represent different characteristics, similar to Western Zodiac. The difference is that each year is represented by a different animal instead of every so couple of weeks. Also, Chinese zodiac holds no correlation with the constellations. However, there is an actual story of why the order of animals is the way it is. It is pretty interesting and sounds like a children's story about how all 12 animals wanted to cross a river. I won't go into it, but you can read more about it if it piqued your interest.
So how do you know if you were born in the Year of the Snake?
Since it is a different animals every year, there is rotation of 12 years. So, if you were born in 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, and 2013, you have a Snake Zodiac. Dont worry! no one will think you're sneaky and poisonous. Being a Snake zodiac has many merits! It is said that many people born in the Year of the Snake are to be the most intuitive. Snakes represent wisdom, therefore they are regarded as highly intelligent, wise, and are great thinkers. However, every zodiac has its flaws. Snakes are materialistic. They always have to have the best of everything, but have no patience when shopping. Snakes like to work alone, therefore they become easily stressed.
Anyways, I hope you guys learned something new today! My only purpose was to wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year regardless of whether or not you celebrate and I hope you all have a healthy, prosperous, and wonderful New Year!
