| Chinese New Year or
Spring Festival (simplified Chinese:
春节; traditional
Chinese: 春節; pinyin:
Chūnjié), or the Lunar New
Year (simplified Chinese:
农历新年; traditional Chinese:
農曆新年; pinyin:
Nónglì xīnnián), is the most
important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an important
holiday in East Asia. The festival traditionally begins on the first
day of the first lunar month (Chinese:
正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè)
in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called the
Lantern festival (simplified Chinese:
元宵节; traditional
Chinese: 元宵節; pinyin:
yuánxiāojié).
The Rat (鼠) was welcomed
in ancient times as a protector and bringer of material prosperity.
It is an animal associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and
order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence,
and atrocities. In the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of the Rat is
associated with the earthly branch symbol 子.
Chinese New Year's Eve is known as
Chúxì (除夕). Chu literally means "change" and xi
means "Eve".
Celebrated in areas with large
populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a
major holiday for the Chinese and has had a strong influence on the
new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as
cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These
include Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, and
formerly the Japanese before 1873. In Singapore, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and other countries with
significant Chinese populations, Chinese New Year is also
celebrated, largely by overseas Chinese, but it is not part of the
traditional culture of these countries.
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