February marks the Chinese New Year 2024. It’s Dragons!! Yes Dragons all year! That is to say it’s the Chinese New Year and the year of the Dragon. But what does this mean? The Dragon is the 5th animal in the 12 year cycle of animals in the Chinese zodiac calendar. The Dragon represents good luck, strength and good health...

Here in the UK our year is already off to a flying start, but for the Chinese, their New Year is just about to begin! Chinese New Year is the biggest of all Chinese festivals and a public holiday in many parts of the world where there are Chinese communities. Celebrations often last for 15 days, but traditionally they would begin on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month and end on the 15th of the first lunar month. Modern society makes it much harder to hold such long festivities, but both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are always alive with celebrations. Thursday 19th February marks the start of the year of the goat on the Chinese lunar calendar; it may also be viewed as the year of the ram or sheep due to different readings of the Zodiac animals. While China adopted the Georgian calendar in 1911, traditions have always remained. After switching calendars “New Year” did not seem a fitting name for the celebration so it became known as Spring Festival. Continue reading →