This is a very old celebration, when the people are repaying depts, enjoying feasts, remem-bering ancestors and giving “red envelopes”. Why red? You will find out in this story:
“Long, long time ago, there was a monster, called NIAN. He came once a year to a lit-tle village and scared the villagers. One day, the villagers discovered that Nian was afraid of the red color and scary noises. When he returned next time, everyone had red banners and noise-makers. He was scared so much that he never came back.”
And that’s why Chinese believe the red color signifies joy and luck, and why noise-makers are rattled on the Chinese New Year.
It isn’t an easy task to determine the date of Chinese New Year. It requires certain knowledge in astronomy.
Animals are very important in Chinese calendar, especially dragons. In ancient China, dragons were wise and caring. Many countries use them in their art- China, Korea, Japan. Chinese name each year after an animal in their calendar. There are 12 animals: dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, boar, rat ox, tiger, and rabbit. Each year successively animals are changing in the correct order. They believe that it has got an influ-ence on personality.