Xīn  nián  hǎo

新年好!

Happy Chinese New Year !

新年好  (Xīnnián hǎo) pronounced /sshin-nyen haoww/  in Mandarin and /sen-nin haow/ in Cantonese, most readily translates to “New Year Goodness!” and is one of the ways to say Happy New Year in Chinese.

Many Asian nations celebrate the Lunar New Year with their own traditions and one common feature, family reunions. In Korea the New Year Celebration is Hangul, while in Vietnam the Holiday is Tet Nguyen Dan.

The Chinese New Year or ‘Spring Festival’ is China’s most celebrated festival and holiday with a history dating back over 3000 years.  This year, Chinese New Year falls on Tues., Feb. 5^th. With Every Chinese New Year starting a new animal’s zodiac year, 12 in all,  2019 is the year of the pig which represents luck, good fortune and wealth.

This great holiday is a time of family, reunions and visiting friends.  Chinese communities will be decorated in red for luck, happiness and success. Festivals will see dancing dragons & lions, lanterns and of  course fireworks.  And celebrated foods like fish, dumplings and rice cakes will make it to everyone’s table. As part of these long held traditions, red envelopes with money will also be given, though the important part of the gift is the red envelope itself which relays one’s offering of happiness.

This February, as people will be doing around the world, we’d also like to wish all of you a very  Xīnnián hǎo !!!