This weekend sees the start of the Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations and the beginning of another ‘Year Of The Dragon’, so what do we actually know about this annual celebration.
When: This year’s national holiday in China starts on Saturday 10th February and finishes on Saturday 24th February. The celebrations last for a whole fortnight and finish with the Lantern Festival on the 15th Lunar day of the new year.
Chinese New Year’s Day marks the beginning of every new year on the Chinese lunisolar calendar. The period is also known as both the Lunar New Year and the Spring Festival.
Travel : Visiting family members is synonymous with the CNY holiday period and Chinese nationals go to great lengths to spend time with their family, travelling from all over China and the globe. The days that follow and precede CNY witnesses the largest migration of people on earth.
Travel around this time was hindered severely by China’s ‘no tolerance’ restrictions during and following the Coronavirus pandemic, it took until last year before things started to return to normal.
Traditions & Luck : Many traditions are kept up by the Chinese, which includes the thorough cleaning of their houses prior to CNY, which legend suggest wards off both bad spirits and bad luck. For the Lantern Festival, homes and businesses are decorated with red lanterns, parades line the streets, and processions include dancers and brightly coloured dragons, which are believed to bring good luck.
During the upcoming ‘Year of the Dragon’, the lucky numbers to keep an eye on are 6 and 8, this can include variation of the numbers such as 18 or 26. Lucky colours for the year include the MultiFreight emerald green, red, and golden yellow.
Zodiac Animals : Each Chinese year is represented by one of 12 zodiac animals, which according to tradition determines your personality traits and characteristics.
Years Of The Dragon are believed to symbolise power, nobility, honor, luck, and success. People born in dragon years should possess natural courage, tenacity, and intelligence, while they often display enthusiasm and confidence. A dragon is best matched with a partner that is born in a Rat, Monkey, or Rooster year.
Your Animal : A rough guide to your personal Chinese zodiac animal can be found below. However, if you are born in the first few weeks of the year you may fall into the previous year, as the lunar new year does not match our calendar.
Rat – 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020
Ox – 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021
Tiger – 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022
Rabbit – 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023
Dragon – 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024
Snake – 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013
Horse – 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014
Sheep – 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015
Monkey – 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016
Rooster – 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017
Dog – 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018
Pig – 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019
Logistics : Chinese export production effectively comes to a halt for a fortnight during the CNY holiday as most factories and businesses are closed, which means logistics movements in China are minimal.
So, from the MultiFreight team – Happy Chinese New Year !
