Dear Readers,

Happy New Year! 

Did you stay up until midnight on December

31st to ring in the year of 2012?  Was there horn

blowing, confetti throwing, hats and fireworks?

If you were to celebrate Chinese New Year yourself

later this month, fireworks could be a part of that

celebrating as well!

I thought you might like to know more about Chinese New

Year so have included a link for you to click on yourself.

Just in case you don't feel like clicking, here's some info

right here right now below the link:

Here's the link to http://www.123chinesenewyear.com/2012.html

As the chinese new year falls on a different date every year, the question on everybody's mind is

When is Chinese New Year 2012?

Chinese lunar New Year is commonly known as Chinese New Year or spring festival. This is an

important annual festival celebrated by Chinese round the globe. The festival is based on Chinese

calendar and starts on the first month (as per the Chinese calendar) and ends on the fifteenth

day of the first month. Chinese new year 2012 will be celebrated on 23rd of January

and is the year of Dragon, the most auspicious animal as per the Chinese zodiac. This new

year features contemporary and traditional Chinese cultural activities, dances, festivities, singing,

Chinese opera, arts and crafts, karaoke competition, innumerable stalls of culinary delights,

lion dances, chess competitions, children’s events, calligraphy, dragon parades to name a few.

The Chinese New Year festival is open to all, irrespective of age barriers. They key here is to

explore the rich Chinese cultural heritage by being a part of it. In present years, the festival has

turned out to be one of the most celebrated festivals. Most countries declare an official holiday

 on Chinese New Year and year 2012 is not an exception as well. Lunar New Year is known as

Tet Nguyen Dan in Vietnam, Setsubun in Japan and Korean New Year in South Korea. The

Chinese New Year forms a great annual event in the Chinese communities. You will find

families and friends gathering for reunion dinner and markets buzzed with activities.

Chinese New Year is celebrated round the globe including countries like Singapore, Indonesia,

Mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Festivities also take

place in different countries with major Chinese ethnic populations. Though Chinese New Year

is celebrated with pomp and glory in Japan, Cambodia and Philippines, yet it’s not a public

holiday here.

Happy New Year to one and all,

Paige Turner!