Xin Nian Kuai Le

Happy Chinese New Year! This is the beginning of year 4721 on the Chinese calendar – the year of the Rabbit. You are a rabbit if your birth date falls during the following years: 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, and after January 22, 2023. traits of people who were born under the sign of the rabbit: They are affectionate, talented, obliging, always pleasant, value security and tranquility. They can sometimes get too sentimental and superficial. They are cautious and conservative. Famous people born under the year of the rabbit: Albert Einstein, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bob Hope, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Frank Sinatra.

Chinese New Year starts on the new moon on the 1st day of the new year and ends 15 days later on the full moon (Lantern Festival). Special foods eaten on Chinese New Year: peanuts (long life), oranges (wealth), tangerines (good luck), and noodles (long life). Some of the traditions are wearing the color red (good luck), cleaning the house and then hiding the cleaning materials. People wear new clothes for the new year. There are lots of fireworks, the lion dance is performed, and family gatherings are very popular. Children get red envelopes (hongbao) from elders after bowing 3 times and saying “gongxi” several times. New bills are inside for good luck and wealth in the new year. Everyone stays up late on New Year’s Ever. It is believed that the longer the kids stay up, the longer the parents will live.

For the last 16 years that Lily has been a part of our family, we have celebrated today with Chinese food and cards to close friends and family with a photo of Lily and the animal of the new year. This is the last year I am making her suffer through the photoshoots. She is now 18 and if she chooses to celebrate, she can. Here is her final Chinese New Year photo for 2023.