Happy Chinese New Year!!!

The Chinese New Year is drawing near. In fact, Wed. Feb. 6, 2008 is the eveof Chinese New Year. And the 7th is the first day of the Year. Chinese NewYear is also known as the Spring Festival, which is the beginning of Spring.>From then on it will become warmer and warmer. New Year is" Xin Nian" inChinese . Nian is a kind of beast . Legend has it that the beast, Nian wouldleave mountains for villages in winter for food. It did hurt peoplesometimes. People did find ways out to protect themselves. The weapons werefireworks and fire. Both the noise of the fireworks and the fire would drivethe Nians away. We still have fireworks in use today for getting rid of evilspirits.

Spring festival is a sort of like Christmas in the U.S. This is the timewhen people would go home for family reunions no matter how far away theyare, and if they have money.On the eve and all the way through the 15th day of Chinese New Year,children are the most excited because the parents would buy them newclothes. They would have the biggest meal they have been looking forward toin the year. The elderly people would give them some money called "Ya SuiMoney" for the one year growth and best wishes for the year to come if theybow to the elderly saying happy new year.
The 15th of Chinese Lunar Calendar is the last day of Chinese New YearCelebration . The special food for the day is sweet round dumplings cookedwith sticky rice. The special event is Lantern Festival.
2008 will be the year of the rat.*Jan.31,1900 to Feb.19,1901Feb.18,1912 to Feb.06,1913Feb.05,1924 to Jan.24,1925Jan.24,1936 to Feb.10,1937Feb.10,1948 to Feb.14,1949Jan.28,1960 to Feb.14,1961Jan.16,1972 to Feb.02,1973Feb.02,1984 to Feb.19,1985*

The Chinese Zodiac consists of a 12 year cycle , each year of which is namedafter a different animal that imparts distinct characteristics to its year .Many Chinese believe that the year of a person's birth is the primary factorin determining that person's personality traits, physical and mentalattributes and degree of success and happiness throughout his lifetime. Ratsare ambitious yet honest. Prone to spend freely. Seldom make lastingfriendships. Most compatible with dragons and Monkeys . Least compatiblewith horses.
There are numerous sites on the web where you can look up your ChineseZodiac sign. Here is one -- http://www.rainfall.com/horoscop/chinese.htmHappy Chinese New Year!