The origins of the Chinese New Year.

The Chinese new year is the most important festivity in the Chinese lunar calendar.It is also the longest. The  date is partially determined by the lunar phase. The festival usually ends with the lantern festival.  Ancient Chinese new year is a reflection of how people behaved and what they believed in. According to legend the Chinese new year started with a fight against a mythical creature known as Nien. Nien would come on the first day of the new year to devour crops,villagers,and children.

The villagers would put food outside their door at the beginning of the year to protect  themselves. They thought the nien would not attack if it ate the food they made. Then one day someone saw that the nien was afraid of a child wearing red. After that every new year people would hang red lanterns outside their door and used firecrackers to scare nien away. Since then Nien never came back.It was eventually captured by a monk. That is how the legend goes.

It is also believed that the loud beats of the drum and cymbals with the face of the dragon dancing aggressively can keep evil spirits away. The biggest celebration of Chinese  new year occur in Singapore and Penang. Here in the U.S the tradition of celebrating Chinese New Year started in 1849 during the California gold rush. Over 50,000 people came over to seek a better way of life and seek their fortune. In the 1860s residents of San Francisco's Chinatown wanted to share their culture with fellow residents of San Francisco.They decided the best way to do so is with a favorite American tradition the parade. That had never been done before in China. So they marched down the streets of Chinatown carrying flags,lanterns,drums,firecrackers to keep away evil spirits.

 This Year Chinese New Year begins February 3.