Gong Xi Fa Cai!恭喜发财 - Happy Chinese New Year
新年好!---Happy Chinese New Year!
At 12:01am on February 18,2007 the Chinese World will usher in the Year of The Pig
Chinese New Year is the most important holiday of the year just like Christmas to you.We settle all the debts we can.We buy oranges for good luck and kumquat金桔 trees to decorate our homes,and clean the house.There will be a family feast,and the older people will give little red packets of luck money (红包) to the youngsters.Usually there is a parade,including lion and dragon dances,stilt walkers,floats and acrobats.And there is noise:fireworks at midnight,gongs,drums and cymbals at the parade.
Doorways get a fresh coat of paint and the windows get decorated with paper cut outs.
Many families will play cards and board games on the evening of the February 1st while t waiting for midnight.Every light in the house is traditionally left on.Early the next morning,the red money packets are given out.Then people go door to door to wish their neighbors and relatives a prosperous new year.
Chinese New Year is a time for family members and the loved ones to get together.It’s a time for people who have been working hard all year round to take a little break.It is a time to receive as well as to give.It is a time to look back .It is also a time to look forward.Happiness,wealth,and long life are the primary themes.
Fifteen days later the lantern festival marks the end of the month-long New Year season.
I love the New Year.Happy Chinese New Year!