Well, we’re now into the 2020s (“twenty-twenties”) or “two thousand (and) twenties” decade in the Gregorian calendar… but the Chinese New Year doesn’t begin until today (January 25th.) And the festival will last until February 8th — about 15 days. The Chinese New Year 2020 is the Year of the Rat. The Chinese zodiac is much too complicated to get into an in-depth discussion here, but I guess technically, 2020 is the Male White Metal Rat year. But most of us will just refer to it as the Year of the Rat.
We’re almost a month into our new year, and I’m doing really well on my resolutions, but now its time to turn my attention to Chinese New Year — a holiday that we always celebrate — besides finding it interesting, it always occurs between January 21 and February 20. That just seems like a good time for a celebration. We’re done with all the Christmas and New Year celebrations, the weather is usually crappy, so what better time for a festival. In China, it’s even referred to as the Spring Festival. Since the dates are based on the lunar calendar, many countries refer to it as the Lunar New Year or Lunar Festival.
The lunar calendar is still very important in China, even though it has officially moved to the Gregorian calendar like the rest of the world. The Chinese still celebrate all the traditional lunar holidays and days such as the Winter Solstice.
I write something about Chinese New Year every year, and by now I’ve just about run out of anything “new” to write about it. So if it seems like you’ve read some of this before, it’s because you probably have. But anyhow, here we go… 2020 is the Year of the Rat. Some of the animals in the Chinese zodiac aren’t particularly well liked, such as the Rat, Pig, and Snake. But the Chinese believe those animals positive traits are bestowed on people born in those years. The zodiac in China plays a much bigger role than in Western cultures. The animal of your birth year can decide your career, health and relationship success.
The year of your birth is known as your benming year and is the year of your zodiac animal. Of the 12 year zodiac cycle, your benming year is the unluckiest for you. There are multiple explanations as to why — the Chinese believe that children can easily be taken by demons, and your benming year is your rebirth year. When your benming year rolls around, your weapon of defense is the color red. People decorate their homes in red for protection (and fortune) but they also wear red clothing. Many people will wear red underwear every day of the year. Some add red shirts, pants, jewelry and other items of apparel.
In China, you have a “real age” and a “fake” nominal age. The real age is the one we all know about. You grow one year older on your birthday. The nominal age, though, increases with the Spring Festival. This was the age most people went with until recent times.
The Chinese have a saying that there’s no manner and/or etiquette without wine. This means that you need to have wine for every ceremony, festival or important dinner. There’s wine for engagement dinners, weddings, birthdays and, of course, the Spring Festival. When you’re eating with someone older than you, as is the case with New Year’s dinners, you need to follow strict toasting etiquette rules. That includes the order of the toasts, seating, how you hold the wine glass, etc.
The new moon time determines the new moon date. The new moon time is at 5:43 on Saturday, January 25, 2020, in China’s time zone. Therefore, Chinese New Year Day is Saturday, January 25, 2020. The new moon time is at 21:49 on Friday January 24, 2020, in the United States Pacific Time zone. So — the 2020 Chinese New Year Day is on Friday, January 24, 2020 in California. Where we live, it’s already past midnight, so Chinese New Year Day here is on Saturday.
The New Year greeting in Chinese is xin nian kuki le. The phrase literally means “Happy New Year.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself…..
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