Camäléon

The online student magazine by Deutsch-Französisches Gymnasium Saarbrücken

The Chinese New Year: Year of the Rabbit

Chinese New Year
Photo: ignartonosbg / pixabay.com

This month on the 22 of January is the Chinese New Year: the year of the rabbit. For students that are born in 2011 should be 12 this year because there are 12 animals and one animal for every year: mouse, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and lastly, pig.

Just like in other countries, we have fireworks on Chinese new year. But that’s not all! We also have lion dances and dragon dances, which are beautiful. We also have to hang red lanterns and wear red clothes. Why, do you ask? Because there is a story of the lion Nian, which sleeps the whole year and wakes up at the Chinese new year. He is hungry so he starts to eat people. One day, a child wore red clothes and set off firecrackers. That scared the monster away. We also hang some wishes for everyone like “Stay healthy” and “Live long”. The writings are black, but the rest is red.

If you have any Chinese friends or your friend’s friend or ex-friend is Chinese, tell them: “Happy Chinese new year!” Not right now, of course!

Arto Tchalikian

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