31. Chinese New Year Year of the Rabbit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHOq_sBRNmw&feature=related
Hinweis der Redaktion
People born during the year of the Rabbit are outgoing, friendly and love being with friends.
Most people will have 7 days off work. In 2011, people will be off work from Feb 2, 2011 to Feb 8, 2011 for New Year celebrations
Preparations for the New Year begin the last few days of the last moon, when houses are thoroughly cleaned and decorated, debts repaid, hair cut, new clothes purchased and New Year food prepared. Houses are festooned with paper scrolls bearing auspicious antithetical couplet (as show on both side of the page) and in many homes, people burn incense at home and in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and ask the gods for good health in the coming months. Preparations for the New Year begin the last few days of the last moon, when houses are thoroughly cleaned and decorated, debts repaid, hair cut, new clothes purchased and New Year food prepared. Houses are festooned with paper scrolls bearing auspicious antithetical couplet (as show on both side of the page) and in many homes, people burn incense at home and in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and ask the gods for good health in the coming months.
Preparations for the New Year begin the last few days of the last moon, houses are thoroughly cleaned and decorated, debts repaid, hair cut, new clothes purchased New Year food prepared. Houses are festooned with paper scrolls bearing auspicious antithetical couplet (as show on both side of the page) and in many homes, people burn incense at home and in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and ask the gods for good health in the coming months. Preparations for the New Year begin the last few days of the last moon, when houses are thoroughly cleaned and decorated, debts repaid, hair cut, new clothes purchased and New Year food prepared. Houses are festooned with paper scrolls bearing auspicious Chinese antithetical couplets use condensed language, but have deep and sometimes ambivalent or double meaning. The two sentences making up the couple) and in many homes, people burn incense at home and in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and ask the gods for good health in the coming months.
these trees and flowers and plants are also used in the celebration
On New Year's Eve, all the members of families come together to feast. Jiaozi, a steamed dumpling as pictured below, is popular in the north, while southerners favor a sticky sweet glutinous rice pudding called niangao.Legend has it that the more dumplings you eat during New Year celebration, more money you can make in the New Year. "Fish" is also a must on this banquet. In Chinese, Fish sounds like "save more". Chinese People always like save more money at the end of year because they think if they save more, they can make more in the next year.
Staying up late (shousui)Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the New Year's Feast, families sit together and chat happily to wait for the New Year's arrival.Lighting FirecrackersLighting Firecrackers used to be one of the most important customs in the Chinese New Year celebration. But because of the danger and the noise disturbance that firecrackers may bring the government has banned this practice in many major cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. However, people in small towns and rural areas still hold to this traditional celebration. Just as the clock strikes 12 o'clock, beginning a new year on the Chinese lunar calendar, cities and towns are lit up with the sparkle of fireworks and the sound can be deafening. Families stay up for this joyful moment and kids with firecrackers in one hand and a lighter in another cheerfully celebrate by throwing the small explosives one by one into the street, whilst plugging their ears.
