Calendar Customs

Chinese New Year

The Chinese have a calendar based on lunar cycles. Twelve animals provide the identities for each year, and a complete cycle requires these twelve to pass five times - taking 60 years.

In China, both the traditional calendar and, since 1911, the Western calendar are used. Feb 12th 2002 was the first day of 4700 in the Chinese calendar.

Festivities last for fifteen days, starting on the eve of the new moon on the last day of the twelfth lunar month and ending with the full moon. The dates therefore vary from late January to mid February. Each of the twelve years of the lunar calendar is named after an animal, the twelve that came at the bidding of Buddha before he departed from earth, including the rat, dragon, snake and monkey. The characteristics of the animal that rules the year are thought to influence its character and those of the people born in that year:

New Year’s Eve dinner is the highlight of the festivities, when families get together to remember their ancestors and feast on traditional foods. Many of these are eaten because of the sound of their names. According to James Kell, fish is eaten because the word for fish – yu – also means luck. Dumplings – jiaozi – are popular because the word can sound like ‘replacement’ – of the old with the new. Red clothes are worn to frighten the legendary monster Nian (also the word for ‘year’), who ‘came out for his supper on the last day of the lunar year and gobbled people up . . . Fire, red cloth and the crack of a whip’ were the most successful ways of keeping him at bay. So firecrackers are set off at the beginning of the meal and at midnight, together with fireworks.

In Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and London, street celebrations are held in Chinatown on the Sunday nearest to New Year’s Day. Loud music from gongs, cymbals and drums, accompanied by firecrackers, heralds the Lion or Dragon, whose famous dances frighten evil away and bring luck. The Lion, with its enormous papier-mâché head, gaping mouth and long, sinuous body, animated by performers hidden beneath bright cloth, dances down the streets, stopping to snap at and collect the lettuce leaves and attached money that are hung down from the first-storey windows or doors of houses, shops and restaurants. This traditional custom, called Choi Cheng, or ‘picking the green’, involves the lion in chewing and spitting out the leaves (which signifies future abundance), then taking the red packet of money in its mouth, bringing luck to the household or business.

In 2006 January 29 is Chinese New Year, welcoming in the Year of the Dog "a year to consider duty, care and loyalty" thought to be "a most favourable year to get married".

Here are some of the celebrations across the country:

Manchester, Chinatown Sunday 29 January, 12.30-6pm
The Golden Dragon Parade starts from Albert Square at 12.30 and heads for Chinatown where there will be stalls workhops, demonstrations and fairground rides. You can also visit the restaurants and shops. The finale is a firework display at Faulkner Street Car Park at 6pm. Further information from www . manchesteronline . co . uk

Central London, Chinatown, Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square Sunday 29 January
In Chinatown, restaurants and food stalls serving food all day, and Lion Dance teams will entertain in the evening. In Trafalgar Square there will be Dragon and Lion Dances, plus traditional and contemporary music and dance. In Leicester Square there will be firecrackers, fireworks and arts and crafts demonstrations. For more information see www . chinatownchinese . com. This is also the launch of the three-month celebration of China in London. See www . london . gov . uk

Liverpool, Chinatown Sunday 29 January, starts 11am
Festivities centred around the huge Chinese Arch on Nelson Street, with Dragon, Unicorn and Lion dancing, firecracker performances, Tai Chi demonstrations, taste the variety of Chinese food. More information from www . visitliverpool . com

York, City Centre 14-29 January
On New Year’s Day a Parade will be led by a 100ft Chinese Dragon, stilt walkers and Chinese musicians. Plus on the 21st January a Chinese Kite Extravaganza and Chinese Opera performance from the UK-Beijing Opera Society. Leading up to New Year there will be a number of music workshops, lantern and kite making workshops, a Chinese Film Programme and an Oriental Market. More information from www . ncem . co . uk or +44(0)1904 658338.

Rochester and Chatham, Kent 28 January & 5 February
Saturday January 28,10am-4pm - International Market which includes Chinese stalls, plus Chinese street entertainment.
Sunday 5 February, 11am outside the Visitor Information Centre on Rochester High Street – Chinese New Year Parade with four Dragons, four Lions (including Medway’s Silver Medal winning team from the Shanghai Lion Tournament 2004) and more than 250 people in traditional Chinese costume. The Parade will travel East to Chatham Town Centre and will end at 12 noon outside the Kut O Association, followed by a display of Lion and Dragon Dancing. At 2.30pm Splendid China at the Central Theatre, Chatham will showcase Chinese opera, dragon and lion dancing, Chinese folk dances plus pop and culture. More information from +44(0)1634 843666.

More about the Chinese New Year can be found here.

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