Dear all on AR especially our kind host Saeed and the moderators and all who make this such a fantastic community

Gong hei fatt choy. May the year of the dog be one of good fortune, health and prosperity for all.

Especially for the hunters... may this not only be the year of the dog, but the year of the HUNTING DOG!

gong hei gong hei

guy in singapore.

A Happy and Prosperous New Year to you Sir!


Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

health, wealth, luck, life -- gong shi fat tzai (at least, that's what the Mandarin sounds like -- the phrase printed above sounds Cantonese to me... Chinese cabbage is often called bok choi in the grocery stores; in Mandarin, it is called bei tzai -- means "white vegitable", but it establishes the relationship between choi/tzai sounds between Cantonese and Mandarin).

Thank you, Saeed, for celebrating what has come to be for me an important celebration in my family.

Like Easter and Passover, the Lunar New Year -- Spring Festival is tied to the moon, and moves around every year. The festival lasts two weeks -- and ends with the Lantern Festival, with little sweet chewey purple balls. It is a celebration with lots of lucky things piled in -- like double entendres or puns, words with multiple meanings carry over. Noodles are lucky because their name also means long life. Many of the dishes are tied to luck, and carry meaning beyond simple feast food. Cutting things, hair, meat, etc, should not be done for 3 days beginning in new years... you can cut off your good luck. You should not sweep out your trash for 3 days -- you will sweep out your good luck and your money. Whatever you're doing for those three days is what you'll be doing all year. Everyone should wish everyone good luck, and no bad thing should be spoken today.

I enjoyed dinner with my wife and some good friends. We did more for Chinese New Year than we did for western New Year. We should -- my wife is from Wuhan.

I wish all of you health, wealth, luck, and life for the coming year.

Dan