Chines New Year

chinese-new-year-girls

Happy New Year! You may be thinking that New Year has come and gone and we are already settling into the doldrums of January, breaking all those well intentioned resolutions we made in the spirit of the new year. Well, cheer up, I have good news. There is another reason to celebrate: Chinese New Year on January 24.

Chinese New Year is not celebrated on the same day each year as is the celebration which is based on the Gregorian calendar. The Chinese calendar is based on lunar-solar cycles. Five cycles of twelve years each make up the entire lunar cycle of 60 years. The calendar also divides the year into 24 solar terms, which relate to nature and are important to people close to the land.

Beginning of Spring, Rain Water, Waking of Insects, Spring Equinox, Pure Brightness, Grain Rain, Beginning of Summer, Grain Full, Grain in Ear, Summer Solstice, Slight Heat, Great Heat, Beginning of Autumn, Limit of Heat, White Dew, Autumnal Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost’s Descent, Beginning of Winter, Slight Snow, Great Snow, Winter Solstice, Slight Cold and Great Cold

Each of the twelve year cycles is represented by an animal, together which make up the Chinese zodiac. If your birth year is not represented on the chart below, merely add or subtract 12 years to one that is to find your zodiac sign. Of the many legends from which Chinese New Year sprang, one is that Buddha named the years after animals that came to him as he prepared to depart from the earth.Happy New Year! You may be thinking that New Year has come and gone and we are already settling into the doldrums of January, breaking all those well intentioned resolutions we made in the spirit of the new year. Well, cheer up, I have good news. There is another reason to celebrate: Chinese New Year on January 24.

Chinese New Year is not celebrated on the same day each year as is the celebration which is based on the Gregorian calendar. The Chinese calendar is based on lunar-solar cycles. Five cycles of twelve years each make up the entire lunar cycle of 60 years. The calendar also divides the year into 24 solar terms, which relate to nature and are important to people close to the land.

Beginning of Spring, Rain Water, Waking of Insects, Spring Equinox, Pure Brightness, Grain Rain, Beginning of Summer, Grain Full, Grain in Ear, Summer Solstice, Slight Heat, Great Heat, Beginning of Autumn, Limit of Heat, White Dew, Autumnal Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost’s Descent, Beginning of Winter, Slight Snow, Great Snow, Winter Solstice, Slight Cold and Great Cold

Each of the twelve year cycles is represented by an animal, together which make up the Chinese zodiac. If your birth year is not represented on the chart below, merely add or subtract 12 years to one that is to find your zodiac sign. Of the many legends from which Chinese New Year sprang, one is that Buddha named the years after animals that came to him as he prepared to depart from the earth.