The Year of the Sheep begins

Utah Jong, a second grader at Memorial Elementary, explains why you wear red and set off fireworks on Chinese New Year. Hint: dragons.

This year, the Chinese New Year fell on Feb. 19, 2015. The Chinese New Year holiday began many centuries ago because of a beast or dragon called Nian. Nian slept through the year, and when she woke up, she started to kill people and animals. She went to the first town and saw candles. She was scared of them, so she went to the next town and saw firecrackers, and she was scared of them too. She was also afraid of the color red.

So on the Chinese New Year, people wore red, set off fireworks, and burned candles to scare Nian away. This became a celebration of the beginning of the New Year.

Chinese New Year is when the life cycle starts again. You celebrate your family and pay respect to your ancestors. On Chinese New Year people eat special food, including sticky cakes, rice, chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, lemon seeds and dumplings. They also eat meat, fish, duck, mandarin oranges and goose. Very lucky people find coins in their dumplings.

Many of the foods have special meanings. Peanuts mean a long life. Red melon seeds bring joy, happiness and truth. Mandarin oranges mean fortune. My favorite, coconut, means togetherness.

In the Chinese Zodiac Calendar, each lunar year is matched with an animal. There are 12 animals on the Zodiac calendar. Last year was the Year of the Horse, and on Feb. 19 the Year of the Sheep began.

People believe that you show characteristics of the animal of the year you are born in. Sheep are likeable, gentle, calm and warm. They are also worriers, shy, indecisive and pessimistic.

There are many traditions for Chinese New Year. People set off fireworks, wear red clothes and have a huge dragon walk down the street in a parade as a reminder of Nian. People clean their houses and decorate them with red and gold banners and flowers. Each flower means something different. For example, bamboo is for luck and chrysanthemum means longevity.

People give red envelopes filled with money to family and friends and greet each other with “Gung hay fat choy!” meaning “Best wishes and prosperity!” It is a great celebration!

Want to be a Buzz Kid? Email approximately 350 words, a high-resolution photo and caption to [email protected]. Or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401.