Chinese New years Options

[jennyjenny]

Ok, so Chinese New years is coming up SOON. I'm not sure when.

( maybe this should be in debate column? )

So, it's called CHINESE new years... so why do chinese people in general celebrate it? I mean, some of you probably don't, but yeah. But I know a lot of asian people celebrate it. And some of them are vietnamese. But if it's called CHINESE new years, shouldn't it be for chinese people?

And yeah, on chinese new years don't u like, get red envelopes, eat smelly food, pray, and then burn fake money? (that's what we do) But don't you like, pray to Buddha? I know some people who are Catholic and celebrate Chinese New years...

Do you celebrate chinese new years?

[Just_Dream]

Of course I celebrate Chinese New Years, I'm half Chinese and half Vietnamese. It's somewhere at the end of January or the beginning of February. It sort of alternates, every year. Anyway, it's NOT JUST Chinese New Year. It's also Vietnamese New Year. Who are you to say that there's ONLY a Chinese New Year? It just so happens that Vietnamese New Years falls on the same days as Chinese New Years. And there's also a Cambodian New Year, but I don't know when that is. I'm guessing.. maybe around April? I'm not sure, but a Khmer friend of mines celebrated it. I heard that Chinese New Year might be on February 9th, I'm not sure.

I don't think you've really understood the true meaning(s) about Chinese New Year. Maybe to you it's all about getting money in red envelopes and eating food. But there's so much more to it.

At about.com, it says:

Chinese New Year is the first day of the lunar calendar, so it is also called the Lunar New Year. And it is also referred to as the Spring Festival since it is the beginning of the Spring term, which is the first term of the 24 terms on the lunar canlendar.

It was recorded that Chinese started to celebrate Chinese New Year from about 2000 BC, though the celebrations were held on different times under different emperors. They started to celebrate Chinese New Year on the first day of the lunar calendar based on Emperor Wu Di's almanac of the Han Dynasty.

Legend says the celebrations of Chinese New Year may be related to a beast known as Nian. The beast Nian came out to eat people on new years until an old man found a way to conquer it. Then people started to observe and celebrate Chinese New Year. The word "Nian" now has the same meaning as Chinese New Year, which is used as commonly as Chinese New Year. And people often use the term "Guo Nian", which may originally mean "passed or survived the Nian". Now everyone loves Guo Nian.

4. Red Packets
Giving Hongbao or red packets during Chinese new year is another tradition. A Red packet is simply a red envelope with money in it, which symbolizes luck and wealth. Red packets are typically handed out to younger generation by their parents, grand parents, relatives, and even close neighbors and friends.

the Chinese New Year is the second New Moon after the winter solstice.

Maybe you should consider researching up on it, if you really want to know WHY things are the way they are. It's basically revolving around luck and religion, in my opinion. My family is Buddhist, after all.