Chinese New Year Celebrations Begin

While many of us celebrated the new year more than a month ago, millions of others around the world are ringing in another new year Wednesday.

While the Western world celebrates the year 2005, Feb. 9 marks the beginning of the year 4703, according to the Chinese lunar calendar, which is based on movements of the sun and moon.

The Chinese New Year is the oldest and most important festival in China. It celebrates the earth coming back to life and the start of plowing and sowing.

On the 15th day, the end of the lunar month, houses are decorated with colorful lantern displays and children carry lanterns in a parade for the Lantern Festival.

The lunar calendar is represented by a cycle of 12 years -- each year symbolized by a different animal of the zodiac. The story behind the selection of those animals is that thousands of years ago, Buddha invited the entire world to a "beginning of spring" festival. But only 12 animals showed up.

So to honor each one of the animals, Buddha gave them each a year in which to celebrate their birthdays.

Year Of Rooster

This year is the year of the rooster. People born in this year are hard-working and definite about their decisions. Roosters are not afraid to speak their minds and can therefore sometimes come across as boastful.

You are a "rooster" if you were born in 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005. Famous people born in this zodiac sign include Michael Aspel, Yoko Ono, Rod Stewart, Mia Farrow and Eric Clapton.

Celebrating The New Year

Although the holiday is known as the Chinese New Year, it is not just a tradition celebrated among the Chinese. Vietnamese and Koreans also light up firecrackers, get together for family feasts, and pay respect to their ancestors and worldly gods during this observance.

If you live in a city with a thriving Asian-American population, the outdoor festivities may be familiar to you. This includes the ubiquitous dragon or "lion" dance, the lantern lighting and the hanging of lucky red banners or couplets by the door.

But what you might not know is what goes on inside the house.

To prepare for the new year, families clean up and organize their homes to purge all of the evil spirits that have paid them a visit within the past year. Adults also take home and spread out a lot of flowers, plants and food to encourage the kindly gods to stop by. That way, your entire year will be lucky.

You're also supposed to forgive all those who have wronged you and settle all debts by this time so you can start the year on a clean slate. But this is much more difficult to do than the spring cleaning.

When New Year's Day arrives, you just sit back and relax with friends and family. Although there is no football game for which to huddle around the television set, Chinese New Year's Day is celebrated a lot like Christmas.

Families reunite, eat a lot of traditional food, drink in moderation, play games and give out gifts. But instead of presents, children and unmarried people receive red envelopes (or lai see ) filled with nice crisp bills. The amount of the bill depends on the closeness of the relation. The money is supposed to signify a wish for prosperity in the coming year.

Commercial Holiday?

Just like Christmas, the Chinese lunar holiday runs the risk of being exploited and over-commercialized.

But who could blame them? The new year is a time of high hopes and loose wallets.

Visit any Chinatown, Koreatown or Little Saigon during this time of the year and you'll see the markets busy with vendors hawking flowers, plants, foods, desserts and plenty of written new year's greetings.

But it's not just the small businesses. According to Kang and Lee Advertising, a national firm that targets Asian-American consumers, "This is one of the best times of the year to strengthen relations with consumers, a time of year of heavy consumer activity within the target markets."

So look out for those "Year of the Rooster" visas, airfares, family-calling plans and similar promotions. Even Hallmark has gotten into the act, expanding its card lines.

But you can't be too cynical about the new year. That would bring really bad luck! So you have to take what you can get and believe that the holiday's growing popularity and acceptance in mainstream American culture is a step forward for diversity.

And even if you're not Chinese or Asian, observing the lunar new year can be fun. If not a good reason to clean your house and wish others prosperity, it gives those who procrastinate one more legitimate chance to start on those New Year's resolutions.

-- Kim Ngan Nguyen