Happy Valentines Day! Happy Chinese New Year!
Today we enter the Year of the Tiger also known as Geng Yin. Since the Chinese use a lunar calendar the date is variable but basically it starts on the second new moon after the winter solstice. That makes it fall most often in late January to mid February.
The Year of the Tiger can be a challenging year as two tigers will fight together. Also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, it is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It consists of a two week period of celebrations, starting with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ending on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and a parade of children carrying lanterns .
This explains the different customs before and during the two weeks of celebrations:
http://www.herongyang.com/chinese/festivals/new_year.html
More about the Spring Festival customs and taboos
http://www.chinatravel.com/facts/chinese-festivals/traditional-chinese-festival/spring-festival%28chinese-new-year%29.htm#5
For more on this check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year
History, traditions, all about the festival, even greeting cards
http://www.theholidayspot.com/chinese_new_year/
Cool video of a Dragon Dance
http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/chinese-new-year.htm
Here is a newly revised section on Chinese New Year
http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/
This one has New Years Superstitions
http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/christmas/chinese_new_year2010.htm
Chinese Zodiac
http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/zodiac.html
http://pages.infinit.net/garrick/chinese/tiger.html
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