Today is Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

In 2014, we are entering the Year of the Horse, bringing with it prosperity and wealth.

Photo courtesy of Elsolar.com

Celebrations began last night on Chinese New Year’s Eve – a colorful celebration marked by firecrackers and dancing dragons – signalling the end of the Year of the Snake. These celebrations will continue until the Lantern Festival, held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

We love Chinese New Year’s for its history and tradition – it is one of the Far East’s oldest festivals – and because it marks the beginning of a new year and new agricultural season. It is the perfect time for loved ones to reunite and take part in traditions that bring good fortune for the next twelve months.

The noise and color associated with the celebrations are inspired by the legend of the beast Nian, a monster which would appear at the end of every year and attack the Chinese people. Villagers believed that loud noises, bright lights and the colour red would keep Nian at bay, and so the seeds of Chinese New Year were sown.