Chinese Lunar New Year
Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, boasting a history of more than 4,000 years, is the grandest and the most important festival for Chinese people. Normally, the public starts celebrating it from the New Year’s Eve (the last day of the 12th month on Chinese lunar calendar) till the Lantern Festival (the 15th day of the 1st lunar month).
Twelve Zodiac Animals
4000 odd years ago, Chinese ancestors used Tian Gan (or heavenly stems) and Di Zhi (or 12 earthly branches) for chronological purpose. Later, people used 12 animals to symbolize the 12 earthly branches in order to make things easier to memorize and the animals in order are the mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. You might find out that many Chinese people strongly believe that the time of a person's birth is a primary factor in determining that person's characteristics.
According to the Chinese ancient lunar calendar, 2017 is the Year of the Rooster, a leap year. In the Chinese calendar an ordinary year has 12 months while a leap year 13. An ordinary year has 353, 354 or 355 days while a leap year 383, 384 or 385.
The Year of the Rooster starts on January 28th, 2017 and ends on February 15th, 2018, lasting for 13 months, i.e. 383 days. June is the leap month of 2017.
2017 Is a Fire Rooster Year
In Chinese element theory, each zodiac year is associated with one of five elements: Gold (Metal), Wood, Water, Fire, or Earth, which means that a Fire Rooster, for example, comes once every 60-year cycle. Years of the Rooster include 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029, and so on. The year of 2017 is called a fire rooster year.
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