Lunar New Year 2024: Year of the Dragon
February 2024 :
Happy New Year!
Wait! Isn’t that in January? Another beginning is occurring on February 10th, when the Chinese Year of the Dragon begins.
The Chinese New Year celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Marking the end of winter and the beginning of the spring season, it is one of the most important holidays in their culture, and has actually influenced Lunar New Year celebrations in over 50 other cultures.
This celebration is said to have begun as a way to protect themselves from the Nian, a beast that would only stop its eating habits by the citizens surrounding themselves in the color red, and making very loud noises, both of which the beast detested. Setting up red fireworks, draping villages in red cloth, and keeping red papers aloft became the tradition for being safe.
Although originally celebrating the end of harvest time in autumn, during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), it became a way to honor ancestors, a tradition that continues to this day. All sorts of food, displaying red lanterns, and shooting of firecrackers are just a part of the wonderful beginning of their New Year celebration.
