The Year of the Tiger Chinese New Year 2010

The new moon in February for 2010 marks the start of the year of the Tiger for the upcoming Chinese New year. It will mark the end of the year of the Ox. Depending on the cycles of the moon, the Chinese Lunar New Year
usually falls either in January of February during the new moon. Chinese New Year 2010 will be celebrated on February 14th, which happens to be the same day as St Valentine Day. Chinese New Year 2010 marks the start of the the Year of the Tiger. The Chinese Zodiac has a twelve year cycle, and the tiger marks the third year. The other signs of the Chinese Zodiac are Rat, Ox, Rabbit, Dragon, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster.

The Chinese new year is sort of like the American Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays rolled into one big event. It is very important for families to be together to ring in the new year. The celebration does not last for just one day. In some areas it could last an entire month. However, the most important part of the Chinese New Year celebration occurs during the first 15 days following the first new moon of the year. Kids will be on winter break, and many in Asia will take a holiday from work.

During the holiday, food takes center stage, with feasting and banquets. There is the general belief that if you start of the year with abundant food and a good time, then that abundance will carry over throughout the upcoming year.

The foods that are eaten will vary greatly depending on the region of China, or whether you are in Singapore, Taiwan, or Hong Kong. The main dishes represent prosperity and success for the upcoming year. For example, in Taiwan and parts of China, many families will eat fish. The words fish and extra are homophones in the Chinese Mandarin language. When you pronounce the word fish and extra in Chinese they make the same sound, yew.
These words have a different character when written in Chinese but sound exactly the same. Just as in the English language, dear and deer are homophones, same sound, different spelling, and different meaning.

In the new year there is now a regular on the popular modern society do. Traditionally red packets are also handed out to younger generation by their parents, grand parents, relatives, and even close neighbors and friends during Chinese New Year. Nowadays giving red packets as a bonus at the year-end by employers becomes popular and Chinese new year parcel is also a tradition of giving to business associates or relatives.

Giving Chinese new year parcel to employees prior to the New Year is also a good idea. This can be either a gift or a bonus. If it is as a gift, the money should be just right for a gift. If as a bonus, you may enclose a check in the parcel gift and hand it out in an office.

Article Source : http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2551219/chinese_new_year_2010_the_year_of_the.html