the chinese new year

Today is the Chinese New Year. I will talk about the Chinese new year. The Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for Chinese people. Like Thanksgiving celebrated in the United States, the Chinese New Year is a time for family gathering. Regardless how far away they live from their parents, Chinese people will do their best to go back home and have a big feast with their families on the eve of the Chinese New Year.

Each year the Chinese New Year falls sometime in January or February. The reason that the Chinese New Year is never celebrated on the same day every year is because of the calendar that Chinese people use to count days. The Gregorian calendar we commonly use today tracks the movement of the sun. This calendar is different from the Chinese calendar. The Chinese calendar, also known as the lunar calendar, tracks the movement of the moon. The Chinese New Year starts with the new moon on the first day of a new year and ends on the full moon fifteen days later.

As the clock strikes midnight on the eve of the Chinese New Year, firecracker sounds pound heavily against our eardrums, and fireworks paint the night sky in red, yellow, orange, blue, and green. People crowd the streets and exchange greetings with one another. For the next fifteen days, Chinese people all over the world reunite with their families, carry out rituals to show respect for their ancestors and mythical gods, or simply have a good time! Here is a checklist of DOs during the Chinese New Year:Do wear red clothes. Red symbolizes fortune and luck.
Do set aside grudges against enemies and call off unpaid debt. Let bygones be bygones - if personal differences or financial obligations cannot be settled before the Chinese New Year, they shall be forgotten.
Do clean your house thoroughly before the Chinese New Year, so misfortune will be cleaned away to make room for good fortune.
Do have a dish of a whole fish for the feast on the Chinese New Year's eve. Make sure that you leave some to be devoured on the following day. As "fish" and "extra" have the same pronunciation in Chinese, having a fish left over from a previous year corresponds to a popular Chinese proverb meaning "having extra every year."
Do give red envelopes (stuffed with money) to your parents, your children, or the children of your friends and relatives. You will only need to do so if you are married. When giving out red envelopes, you are wishing that the recipient would not grow old.