Lunar New Year's Day
Description:
Australia is dominated by the Gregorian calendar. Although people in China also live according to the Gregorian calendar, they celebrate holidays and festivals according to the national calendar. The Chinese tradition of living according to different calendars took root on the Green continent, where many immigrants from China.
The Chinese began to move to Australia during the Gold Rush (50-60-ies of the 19th century). About 1/3 of the gold miners were Chinese. Monuments and houses built by Chinese settlers still serve as a reminder of the long history of Chinese immigration to Australia. Examples of such architecture are in the cities of Ballarat, Bendigo, Melbourne and many others. In Melbourne Chinatown there is even a Chinese Museum.
Chinese New Year is celebrated on the second new moon after the winter solstice and falls from January 21 to February 19 according to the Gregorian calendar. This year, the Chinese New Year begins on February 18. It ends on March 4th. Traditionally, the Chinese New Year concludes the Lantern Festival: on this day people decorate temples with lanterns and carry numerous lanterns to the evening parade - in the light of the full moon. The most important event of the festival is Dragon Dance. The dragon is made of silk, paper and bamboo and can reach 30 meters in length.
During the Chinese New Year celebrations, people wear red (preferably new!) clothes, hand out “lucky coins” in red envelopes to children, and launch firecrackers. The color red symbolizes fire, which, according to the Chinese, takes away all bad things. Family members gather together for an extravagant dinner.