50 Unbelievable Facts About Chinese New Year Infographic
By now we must have noticed that the Chinese and the Western countries don’t celebrate the New Year at the same time. The differences between the two calendars are obvious even for the more inattentive people, but if you still don’t know when are the Chinese celebrating one of their favorite holidays in 2014, we can tell you: January 31 is the big day!
The Chinese New Year begins on the night of the nearest day when the sun passes the fifteenth degree of the Aquarius’ new moon, according to the Asia tradition. That is why the first day of the New Year always falls between January 21 and February 21, exactly a month.
This holiday is represented by 12 animals, with each one symbolizing one year, and this means that we are about to celebrate the arrival of the year of the Horse. But why these creatures? Well, an ancient legend says that Buddha once invitedall the animals for a meeting, butonly twelve appeared. To thank them,Buddha turned them into eternal signs of the Chinese astrology.
These are the same twelve animals – rat, buffalo, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig –that compose the Chinese Zodiac. In 2014, we celebrate the arrival of the Chinese year of the Horse and you can learn everything about it in this awesome infographic.