Dear Friends & Neighbors,

Chinese New Year Dragon Dance in Seattle, WA in 1909 (Attribution: unknown photographer, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Chinese New Year Dragon Dance (Attribution: by Chinese Youth Society of Melbourne, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Chinese New Year Fire Dragon Dance for Chinese New Year, 2003 (Attribution: 山脉, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Chinese New Year Performers holding Dragon on Poles in Taiwan (Attribution: 蔡滄龍-彰化市南瑤宮, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Chinese New Year red paper envelopes in Hong Kong, circa 2000 (Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Chinese New Year The Ke Lok Si Temple in Penang, Malaysia brightly illuminated in the nights following Chinese New Year (Attribution: Flying Parmacist, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Lunar New Year celebration in Korea with Traditional Game Tuho (Attribution: Kang Byeong-Kee, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Lunar New Year celebration in Japan with Osechi Ryori typical new years dishes (Attribution: Sixgimic, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Boiled dumplings as the food for Chinese New Year (Attribution: Bioniclepluslotr, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Chinese-New-Year-decorations-at-Western-Unions-headquarters-in-Englewood-CO-February-3-2005.-Note-that-the-center-character-Fú-福-is-upside-down-by-Helanhuaren (Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Chinese New Year Firework at Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong (Attribution: Michael Alleray from England, UK, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Astrological sign for year of the rat (Attribution: Alice-astro, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)

(Please click on red links & note magenta)

Lunar New Year is the beginning of a calendar year whose months are based on cycles of the moon. The relevant calendar may be a purely lunar calendar or a lunisolar calendar. According to the Chinese zodiac, the year 2020 is the Year of the Rat, starting from January 25, 2020 and lasting until February 11, 2021. The Year of the Rat is the first zodiac sign in the Chinese zodiac cycle. According to the Chinese zodiac story, in the competition held by the Jade Emperor, the quick-witted rat asked the diligent ox to take him on a ride to cross the river and jumped down before the ox crossed the finish line, so the rat won the race and became the first of the 12 zodiac animals. The 12 zodiac animals are, in order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. So, a Rat year occurs every 12 years.

The video “Chinese Zodiac 2020: Year of the Rat“, below:

In this video, learn all about the traditions and legends that make Lunar New Year one of the most exciting times of the year, in the video “Fortune Tales, The Story of Lunar New Year“, below:

Hubble welcomes the Year of the Rat with a view of its own favorite rodents, NGC 4676A and B, and highlights the planetary origins of the Chinese zodiac’s 12-year timetable, in the video “Happy Lunar Year From Hubble“, below:

Asian cultures around the world are also celebrating the start of the lunisolar calendar with their own unique traditions, dances and decadent foods. Check out some of the most colorful Lunar New Year customs, in the video “How Asians Celebrate Lunar New Year Worldwide“, below:

• • Lunar New Year at 15 W. Par St., Orlando, FL, hosted by Diocese of Orlando, from Friday, January 24, 2020, from 8:00 pm to Sunday, January 26, 2020 at 5:00 pm.
  • Wah Lum Lion Dance &  Kung Fu Shows Chinese New Year 2020 , hosted by Wah Lum at E Colonial Dr., Orlando, Florida, from Friday, January 24, 2020, 4:00 pm to Sunday, February 2, 2020, 2:30 pm. Also please refer to: wahlum.com
  • Lunar New Year Festival 2020, at 4603 W Colonial Dr., Orlando, FL, hosted by TET Festival-Hoi Tet Ve Nguon, from Saturday, January 25, 2020, 10:00 am to Sunday, January 26, 2020, 5:00 pm.
  • CASA at UCF Chinese New Year-Orlando, at 12715 Pegasus Dr., Orlando, FL, hosted by CASA at UCF, from Sunday, January 26, 2020, 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm.
  • Lunar New Year Social, 12250 Strategy Blvd., #443, Orlando, FL, hosted by Orlando Queer and Trans Asian Association, at Bento Asian Kitchen near UCF, Monday, January 27, 2020, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
  • CAACF Chinese New Year Celebration 2020-Orlando, at 1101 E. Colonial Dr., Orlando, FL, hosted by CAACF, at 1101 E. Colonial Dr., Orlando, FL, at Chuan Lu Garden, on Saturday, February 1, 2020, from 10:00 am to noon.
  • Vietnamese New Year (TET) Festival 2020 in Central Florida, at 7017 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, FL, at Enchanted Night Banquet Hall, hosted by Central Florida Vietnamese community, on Saturday, February 8, 2020 (10:00 am to midnight) & Sunday, February 9, 2020 (10:00 am to 6:00 pm)
  • 9th Annual Dragon Parade Lunar New Year 2020, at 728 Thornton Ave., Orlando, FL, at Market At Mills 50, hosted by Asia Trend Community Learning Center Meetup group, on Sunday, February 9, 2020, 11:00 am to 12:15 pm.
  • 9th Annual Dragon Parade Lunar New Year 2020 at 1200 Weber St., Orlando, FL, at Mills 50, on Sunday, February 9, 2020 11:00 am to 12:30 pm.

The following East Asian and Southeast Asian Lunar New Year celebrations are, or were, based on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar (occurring in late January or early February):^[1]

• Chinese New Year
• Japanese New Year (prior to 1873) – Ryukyu (present)

• Korean New Year (Seollal)^[2]
• Mongolian New Year (Tsagaan Sar)
• Tibetan New Year (Losar)
• Vietnamese New Year (Tết nguyên Đán)

These South Asian traditional celebrations are influenced by Indian tradition, which marks the solar new year on the sun’s entry into Aries in April.

• Ugadi and Gudi Padwa, new year’s day celebrated by the Deccan people of India
• Meitei Cheiraoba, new year’s day celebrated by Meitei people
• Kashmiri New Year (Navreh), new year’s day celebrated by Kashmiri Pandits
• Nyepi, in Bali, Indonesia

These South and Southeast Asian New Year celebrations are similar to each other in that they have dates based on the solar cycle (“solar new year”), but are influenced by Indian (Indic) tradition (occurring on 13/14 April):

• Burmese New Year (Thingyan): New year falls in April, but is not the first day of the Burmese calendar year
• Cambodian New Year (Chaul Chnam Thmey)
• Lao New Year
• Nepali New Year
• Odia New Year (Pana Sankranti)
• Sinhala and Tamil New Year
• Thai New Year (Songkran)
• Pohela Boishakh (Bengali New Year)
• Puthandu (Tamil New Year)
• Water-Sprinkling Festival (Dai New Year)
• Sangken (in Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Assam, India)
• Vishu, (Malayalee New Year)
• Maithili New Year, in Mithila, Nepal

New Year celebrations that originated in Western Asia fall on other days:

• Islamic New Year or Muslim New Year retrogresses through the Gregorian and Julian calendar years. The day of Muslim New Year may thus fall in any season on the calendar.
• In Judaism (Rabbinic and Karaite) and Samaritan religious and secular traditions, there are as many as four new year observances. Each tradition uses a slightly different version of the Hebrew Calendar but the days always fall in the same season.
  • 1 Nissan/Abib (Aviv) is the first day of the religious new year in Rabbinic Judaism and the first day of the religious and secular new years in Karaite Judaism and Samaritanism. Rabbinic Judaism calls this the New Year for Kings and similarly numbers Nissan (aka Aviv) as the first month. Nissan/Abib begins in the spring. The climax of this new year is the festival of Passover, which begins on 15 Nissan/Abib (Aviv).
  • 1 Elul is the date on which the Samaritan calendar advances a year, on the theory that 1 Elul commemorates the creation of the earth. It corresponds to the New Year for Animal Tithes in the Rabbinic tradition. This is a very late summer/early autumn holiday.
  • Rosh Hashanah in Rabbinic Judaism begins with the new moon of the month of Tishrei. It is the date on which the Rabbinic calendar advances a year, on the theory that 1 Tishrei is the day on which the world was born. Rosh Hashanah also inaugurates the ten days known as the High Holy Days/High Holidays or Days of Awe, culminating with Yom Kippur; which is the holiest day of the year in Rabbinic Judaism. For Samaritans and Karaites, Passover remains the holiest day of the year, so they observe 1 Tishrei as Yom Teruah, meaning “Day of Noise” (whereas Rosh Hashanah means “Head of the Year”). It is an autumn holy day.
  • Tu BiShvat is the New Year for Trees in Rabbinic Judaism. It is a festive holiday rather than a holy day

Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com

Any comments, suggestions, concerns regarding this post will be welcomed at info.WindermereSun@gmail.com

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