2013 Chinese New Year Days and Festivals

 2013 is the Year of the Snake. 2013 Chinese New Year Date is on February 10, 2013 in China's time zone. This day is a new moon day, and is the first day of the first Chinese lunar month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar system.

The Year 2013 is the 4710th Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C., therefore China will enter the 4710th year on February 10, 2013. Also, the Chinese Year uses the cycle of 60 Stem-Branch counting systems and the Black Water Snake is the 30th Stem-Branch in the cycle. Since (60 *78) + 30 = 4710, therefore 2013 is the Black Water Snake Year, which is the 4710th Chinese Year.

Chinese New Year is the biggest event in Chinese world. Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year for 15 days until Chinese Lantern Festival. The Chinese New Year Eve is the day of family reunion. Chinese TV stations provide many Chinese New Year special programs. Most Chinese stay awake until hearing the sound of firecrackers to welcome the Chinese New Year. On the Chinese New Year Day, people like to greet with Gong Xi Fa Chai , which means "congratulations and make a fortune." to start the celebrations.

The second day of Chinese New Year is the Son-in-Law Day. Married women return their mother homes on this day. The third day of Chinese New Year is the Mice Wedding Day. The fourth day of Chinese New Year is the Welcome Home Day to the God of the Stove. The fifth day of Chinese New Year is the Welcome God of Wealth Day. Lots of business stores like to reopen on this day. The sixth day of Chinese New Year is the Clear-Water Master Day. The seventh day of Chinese New Year is The Human Day. The eighth day of Chinese New Year is The Completion Day. The ninth day of Chinese New Year is the Birthday of Jade Emperor, King of Heaven. The tenth day of Chinese New Year is The Eating Day. The eleventh day of Chinese New Year is The Break Day. The twelfth day of Chinese New Year is The Diarrhea Day. The 13th day of Chinese New Year is The Death Anniversary of Kuan Yu. The 14th day of Chinese New Year is The Lantern Decoration Day.  The 15th day of Chinese New Year is The Lantern Festival. The Chinese New Year Festival will end at Chinese Lantern Festival. But the displays of lantern shows will last for another 20 to 30 days.

The preparation to celebrate the Chinese New Year festival begins around 8th day of 12th lunar month. The last day of the Chinese New Year festival is on the 15th day of first lunar month. That means it's required about three weeks to prepare the festival and 15 days to celebrate it. Traditionally, a Chinese man works outside for living and his wife takes care everything inside home. A month is not long enough for a housewife to clean entire house, put new interior and exterior decoration, prepare new clothes and gifts for all family members, and food for many events. You can image that Chinese New Year festival combines Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year Day together.

More about Chinese New Year is at http://www.chinesenewyearday.com

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