Weeks of celebrations are underway in Norfolk as people welcome the start of the Chinese New Year today. Not surprisingly, the it is the largest annual human migration in the world as millions of people in China make their way home.
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Monday marks the first day of the Year of the Monkey – the ninth animal on the Chinese zodiac calendar. This year, the Year of the Monkey, begins on February 8 and ends on January 27, 2017.
Now the Sun Lions are one of the most recognizable faces of Chinese New Years’ celebrations in Chinatown. The younger children performed nursery songs in Chinese, decked out in masks that were painted like little monkeys, to celebrate the Year of the Monkey. Lion Dance is common in Indonesia and some rich Chinese families invite a lion dance troupe as a symbolic ritual to usher in the New Year as well as to evict bad spirits from their premises. Take note, Red Fire Monkeys – you’ll need a few of these to perk your year up while you doggedly face southwest… Chinese months emulate the lunar calendar with each month beginning on the new moon. And this is the year of the Monkey which is not believed to be a particularly lucky year for Monkey people.
The next Year of the Monkey will be 2028.
Laundry: People do not wash clothes on the first and second day, because these two days are celebrated as the birthday of Shuishen ( the Water God).
Though commonly known as “Chinese New Year, ‘ the day is also celebrated in neighboring Asian countries like Thailand and Singapore”.
Julius Caesar, Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Ross, Eleanor Roosevelt and Cuba Gooding Jr. are some famous people born in the Year of the Monkey. The festival will kick off at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19, with traditional 10-course banquets and lion dance performances at four University City restaurants: LuLu Seafood, Mandarin House, Wonton King and Wei Hong.
A Malaysian ethnic Chinese woman takes a souvenir photograph of illuminated traditional Chinese lanterns on the eve of Lunar New Year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016.
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In addition, several Chinese movies were also part of the presentations. For many, it is the only time of the year to see their families.
