Happy New Year!

Today is the Chinese New Year. It will be the Year of the Rat. Chinese New Year is also called the Spring Festival. Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival. The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. There are a number of traditions surrounding Chinese New Year from types of foods, your home and what you are not to do.

This year, the Chinese classes celebrated the Chinese New Year with the visiting Chinese faculty. It was a blast. There was wonderful food and a good time by all.