China’s Year of the Ox

February 12 is being celebrated as the Chinese New Year around the world. The festival marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year and follows the lunar calendar, thus falls on a different date each year.

Key Points

• The Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival.
• Also, every year has an animal sign in the Chinese Zodiac – Ox, Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Rabbit, Snake, Goat, Horse, Monkey, Dog, Rooster, and Pig. This is based on the Moon and has a 12-year cycle.
• The year 2021 will be the “Year of the Ox”.
• Chinese people usually travel across the country in the lead up to the New Year is a time to spend with their families.
• Also, people clean their homes to make them ready for the celebrations before the festivities. Because there is a tradition of not picking a broom on New Year’s eve. It is considered that sweeping on the New Year can lead to sweeping good luck out.
• Every year, performances and Parades are also organized with people dressing up in traditional clothes. Fireworks are also a major part of this eve as it is believed that the noise and light will scare away any evil spirits for the coming months.
• The beginning of the Chinese New Year is not known, but some people believe that it originated in the Shang Dynasty when people organized sacrificial ceremonies in honor of gods and ancestors.
• However, the date of the festival, the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese lunar calendar, was fixed in the Han Dynasty (202 BC to 220 AD).

However, this year the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way of celebrating Lunar New Year. Most of the celebrations will be online and people have been urged not to travel home. Beijing has issued a yellow alert for heavy air pollution on Chinese New Year’s Eve and has banned fireworks and firecrackers.