The Year of the Horse

Happy Chinese New Year, 2014 is the Year of the Horse

Neiiiiiiigh Prrrrrrrr said the horse…. the photo below shows me as a very happy girl and my two old horses Rivaldo and Hekla. Also below is my little sister on her old horse named Monique (my little sister is actually born in the year of the horse (1990)  🙂

My darling J is a quarter Chinese so therefore of course we are going to celebrate Chinese New Year tonight.

Our Chinese New Years dinner is: Chinese chicken – coriander soup and rice paper rolls served with some tasty bubbles 🙂

Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated at the turn of the Chinese calendar. Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year’s Eve, the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar.

The Year 2014 is considered as the Year of the Horse. In Chinese culture, the Horse is a symbol of nobility, class, speed and perseverance.

The table below shows what animal you were born in according to the Chinese Zodiac Calendar (The Chinese zodiac calendar comprises 12 animal signs and horse is the seventh among all of them):

The Sign of the Horse

If you were born in 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, or 2014, you were born under the sign of the horse.

The horse is one of the Chinese people’s favorite animals and has become closely linked to people’s lives. It provided a quick and useful mode of transportation before the invention of vehicles.

One of the ways the horse serves human beings is to give people a ride to their destination. Therefore, the horse is not only a symbol of travel, but also a sign of speedy success.

The horse ranks seventh among the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. People born in the Year of the Horse are highly animated, active, and energetic. They are typically very elegant, independent, gentle, and hardworking.

Their most striking characteristic is their strong self-confidence. Thus the Year of the Horse is a time for all people to go forward confidently in the direction of their goals and dreams, just as the horse gallops at top speed toward its destination.

Chinese New Year Traditions

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese festivals.

There are many traditions and customs associated with the Chinese New Year. Families thoroughly clean their house in order to sweep away any ill fortune and to make way for good luck. Windows and doors are decorated with delicate red paper cutouts and poetic couplets—pairs of corresponding lines of poetry that express people’s joy and hope for the New Year.

Fireworks, firecrackers, red packages, the lion dance, the dragon dance, and lanterns with riddles are other common customs and traditions observed during the Chinese New Year period.

Very importantly, many families gather for a big family reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, and the Chinese people also pay visits to their relatives as part of the New Year celebration.

I think the Chinese New Year is full of beautiful traditions and I would love to visit China one day and experience it with my own two eyes. But this year I will be celebrating from my home in Barcelona with J♥

I think the arrival of the Year of Horse is a time to reconcile differences, let go of all grudges, and sincerely a time to wish everyone peace, health, and happiness.

Happy New Year !!!