Chinese New Year 2019! 恭喜发财

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

This year, the Chinese New Year (CNY 2019) ushers in the Year of the Pig. 

In China, the CNY is called the Spring Festival. It is celebrated throughout China. The festival lasts 16 days. The Spring Festival is a lunar festival that begins on the new moon (the CNY), culminating on the full moon. The full moon selected in the one closest to the start of Spring (Spring Equinox, which is March 20 this year.) 

The Chinese lunar calendar, based on the 29-day cycles of the moon, reconciles the 11-day difference between the lunar year 354 days and the solar year 365 days, using a leap month every three years. Thus, each year the CNY starts 11 days earlier than the previous festival, except on a leap year when it starts 19 days later than the previous festival.

The CNY and Festival of Spring is celebrated with many events and performances, including the traditional Lion Dance and other Martial Arts performances, dragon parades, and fireworks. (For a list of events refer to: Aridi, 2019 - NYTimes; Wu, 2019  - SF Chronicle; Herrendeen, 2019 - Mercury News). Without fireworks, you still get to see the last full moon of winter.

The Year of the Pig refers to the Chinese Zodiac. One of 12 animals punctuates each year of a 12-year cycle. The animals that are part of the Chinese Zodiac are the following :

 rat (鼠—shǔ), ox (牛—niú), tiger (虎—hǔ), rabbit (兔—tù), dragon (龙—lóng), snake (蛇—shé), horse (马—mǎ), goat (羊—yang), monkey (猴—hóu), rooster (鸡—jī), dog (狗—gǒu), and pig (猪—zhū).

恭喜发财 (May you have a prosperous new year, in Mandarin.)

References

Chinese New Year net

https://chinesenewyear.net/

Aridi, S. (Feb 4, 2019) Seven cultural events celebrating the Lunar New Year – NY Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/arts/lunar-new-year-cultural-events-new-york.html

Wu, G.  (Feb. 3, 2019) Lunar New Year: Girls and women changing San Francisco’s Lion Dance legacy – SF Chronicle

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Lunar-New-Year-Girls-women-changing-San-13585951.php  

Herrendeen, L. (Jan 28, 2019 ) 23 Lunar New Year events in the SF Bay area – The Mercury News

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/28/20-lunar-new-year-events-in-the-bay-area/