This week we celebrated Chinese New Year with a Chinese-inspired lunch for the staff and students. You can read more about how this holiday is celebrated by Chinese communities below.

Chinese New Year begins with the rising of the second new moon after the winter solstice. Also known as the Spring Festival, New Year is celebrated by Chinese communities across the world. The festivities usher out the old year and are meant to bring luck and prosperity in the new one. There are family banquets and outdoor spectacles featuring firecrackers, fireworks and often dancing dragons. The major celebrations are held on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Millions of people will travel across China – sometimes thousands of miles – to celebrate with their families. People decorate their houses with red for good luck and children are given money in bright red envelopes. Celebrations last for two weeks, ending with the lantern festival, which marks the full moon.

Each year is associated with one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. But what does the Year of the Water Rabbit really mean for us? According to Chinese astrology, the rabbit represents peaceful and patient energy. The rabbit is a gentle creature known for thinking things through before acting. This energy will encourage us to approach challenges and opportunities calmly and rationally.

In addition to the rabbit’s peaceful energy, the rater element brings intuition and inner peace. Water is all about tapping into our inner wisdom and trusting our instincts. It encourages us to be more in tune with our emotions and sensitive to those around us. In Cantonese, the main language of southern China and Hong Kong, the New Year greeting is “Gong Hei Fat Choy” (恭喜發財), which means “wishing you prosperity.” In Mandarin, people say “Xin Nian Kuai Le” (新年快乐), which simply means “Happy New Year”.