Chinese new year Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chinese new year - Essay Example An analytical explanation of the Chinese New Year festivities establishes the validity of this statement. The Chinese New Year is lunar, commencing on the first day of the new year containing a new moon and concluding fourteen days later with the Latern festival. Years rotate in accordance with both a 12-year cycle of animal zodiacs and a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems, in addition to bi-annual rotating stems. The animal zodiacs are comprised of the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. The elements consist of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water and the heavenly stems are ying and yang. This means that depending on the date, the new year assumed the name of an animal, a particular element and is categorized as ying or yang. Within the context of Chinese culture and religious belief, the nature of a year determines one's fortunes, depending on whether or not it is in harmony with one's birth year (Ki, 2005). As earlier noted, the Chinese new year unfolds over a fourteen day period, calculated by some as fifteen since preparations commence on the day before.