Chinese New Year Traditions: 5 Ways To Celebrate 2014, The Year Of Horse

Chinese New Year is just around the corner - Jan. 31 will be the start of Chinese New Year and the kickoff for the Spring Festival, which lasts two weeks. 2014 will be the Year of the Horse: according to Travel China, this means 2014 will be a year of intense productivity - "The spirit of the horse is recognized to be the Chinese people's ethos – making unremitting efforts to improve themselves. It is energetic, bright, warm-hearted, intelligent and able." Here are Five Ways to Celebrate The Chinese New Year.

1. Eat - Food is one of the most important element of any Chinese New Year celebration. In Chinese tradition, this meal is an important family gathering, particularly for those family members that live away from home. Fish is the traditional New Year's Eve meal, however, dumplings are also an important part of the evening, especially in northern China. Other important dishes are the New Year Cake, Tang Yuan, a small ball made from glutinous rice flour, and LaBa Congee, a mixture of rice, nuts and beans.

2. Fireworks - Of course fireworks are one of the most important part of any New Year's celebration, but for the Chinese New Year, fireworks take on a particularly important significance. Fireworks in ancient Chinese traditions were used to drive away evil spirits. It is also believed that the first person to launch a firework on New Years Eve will get the best luck for the rest of the year. Fireworks displays in China and major US cities like New York and San Francisco are incredibly impressive!

3. Red Packets - It is tradition that on New Years Eve parents or granparents give their children, grandchildren or other young people red envelopes with money. The red packets, known as 'hóngbāo', can be filled with everything from a couple of dollars to a few thousand yen. It is popular to give $8 or derviatives of that number which is considered very lucky in Chinese tradition.

4. Decorate - After cleaning the house, it is tradition to richly decorate the house for the New Year. Decorations are most often red in color - the luckiest color in Chinese traditions. Decorations often include Chinese knots, posters with Chinese idioms and papercutting. Red lanterns are also an important feature because of the New Year Lantern Festival.

5. Shop - Chinese New Year markets are some of the most exciting of the whole year. Selling many Chinese New Year items such as clothing, fireworks, decoration, foods, arts and crafts. The market is usually decorated with lanterns as well, making them very beautiful. Look for a Chinese New Year market in your city!

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