As the holiday season passes and 2017 is among us, many are looking forward to the celebration of Chinese New Year. On January 28th, the year of the rooster will finally begin, and the annual Spring Festival will be underway in Chinese culture. The Chinese New Year quite obviously does not align with our new year, which is celebrated on January 1st each year and is already behind us, because it is based off of the Chinese Lunar Calendar rather than the internationally used Gregorian Calendar. While the reason for Chinese New Year is often debated, the symbolism of the holiday is very important in Chinese culture. The holiday represents a time to be with family, a time to reminisce about the passed year including the good and bad that accompanies it, as well as an opportunity to wish good fortune upon others and oneself for the upcoming year in terms of business and farming. It is customary to wear red during this holiday in order to prevent being cursed during the upcoming year. This holiday always falls between January 21st and February 20th and lasts seven days. Because China is not predominantly Christian, Chinese New Year serves the same purpose as a winter break does, providing people with a well needed break in the middle of winter too.
Chinese New Year is also popularly known for its zodiac animal designations each year. These designations are cycled through every year in the same order, with one full cycle taking 12 years. The order is as follows: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. It is important to note that if you were born before the Chinese New Year in your birth year, your Chinese Zodiac sign is the prior years animal. Each animal has its own personality, with this year’s animal, the rooster, supposedly embodying loyalty and reliability. On a deeper level, the 12 zodiac signs were chosen by their relevance in Chinese culture and have been connected to the Taoist symbol of the Yin-Yang. In this respect, the rooster is characterized as a yin sign, which represents passivity, femininity, and inaction.
At St. Rose, the Chinese New Year has a special significance because it gives our international students a chance to celebrate a special event in their culture despite being thousands of miles away from their families. Kevin (Shang) Lou, a senior international student said, “It’s really exciting for me because I get to call my family back home and wish (them) good luck for the year and talk to them and my family here eats Chinese food for a week even though it is not real Chinese food,” when asked about his favorite part of Chinese New Year. Although the celebrations here do not include firecrackers, extravagant festivals, or formal ancestor veneration, another senior international student Sam Sun is still very excited for the New Year to come, “I am excited for (the) New Year because everyone at school is celebrating our culture and I think (it is) very cool that they are interested.”
This upcoming January 28th, remember to wear red, to spend time with family, to wish others well for the upcoming year and to have Happy Chinese New Year!
By: Alex Phipps ’17, Staff Writer
