Happy birthday to everyone! Today we celebrate everyone's birthday, because it is the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
I wonder if you have the same feelings as me? People get more excited during the Lunar New Year than during any other festival. Perhaps it is because people have a longer holiday over Lunar New Year, or possibly it is because there are more traditions and customs to be followed.
Lunar New Year is very different from the western new year, although in both cases it marks the beginning of a new calendar.
The difference lies in the traditions and customs that make the Chinese version so unique. At Lunar New Year, we have special days to clean our house, to hold reunion dinners, to pay visits to relatives and to honour different Chinese gods.
There are many interesting customs and traditions which attract the interest of westerners. They are curious about many things: why it is called the Year of the Monkey, why people wear red clothes, and why we have special orange trees which are wrapped in red.
If I was to be asked by a tourist about such things, I would not know all the stories behind our customs. Do you? Do you know why people who are born in the Year of the Monkey are supposed to have bad luck this year? Do you know why we give each other money in red envelopes?
