2. Chinese New Year Friday, January 31, 2014

3. How did you celebrate the New Year this year?

4. Chinese New Year Before the festival, there is a period of preparation when houses are cleaned, lucky red decorations are hung over doors and around rooms, and new clothes are bought.

6. New Year is a time to be thankful for the last year, to look forward to what may happen this year and to hope that it will be a good one!

7. In China, every year has the name of an animal. There are 12 important animals, so each animal has its turn once every 12 years. There are several legends that explain how this came about. One legend says that Lord Buddha called all the animals in the animal kingdom to come and say goodbye to him before he left his life on Earth. Only twelve came to bid him farewell. He rewarded them by naming a year after each one, in the order they arrived. The Chinese New Year Legend

8. Another legend tells the story of a swimming race: Many years ago there lived a rat, an ox, a tiger, a rabbit, a dragon, a snake, a horse, a sheep, a monkey, a rooster, a dog and a pig.

9. Which year were you born in? Rat - 1984 1996 Ox - 1973 1985 1997 Tiger - 1986 1998 Rabbit - 1987 1999 Dragon - 1988 2000 Snake - 1989 2001 Horse - 1978 1990 2002 Sheep - 1991 2003 Monkey - 1980 1992 2004 Rooster - 1981 1993 2005 Dog - 1994 2006 Pig - 1983 1995 2007

10. 2014 is the year of the Horse If you were born in the Year of the Horse then you are amazingly hard working and very independent. Although you are intelligent and friendly, you can sometimes be a bit selfish. Career wise you would make a good scientist or poet.

11. Spending time with family and friends Being kind to one another Hoping for enough food to eat and enough money to live on Remembering people who have died Things that are important during this time:

12. ‘May your happiness be as wide as the East Sea.’