Happy New Year
Wish you luck in the Year of Pig
Chinese New YearAsians burned incense in temples thick with clouds of eye-stinging smoke and gathered for feasts of chicken, hot pots and dumplings Sunday as they celebrated the first day of the Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Pig.
Across China, revelers brought in the New Year late Saturday and early Sunday with the boom of firecrackers and fireworks – an ancient New Year tradition meant to drive away bad luck and scare off evil spirits. Streets were littered with tattered red paper and cardboard casings from spent fireworks.
At Beijing's Lama and White Cloud temples, faithful tossed coins at incense burners in the hope one would land in the pot and bring them good luck for the year ahead.
At a traditional fair in the capital's Ditan Park, performers sang folk songs and snippets of Peking opera for throngs of people snaking through the park, many carrying balloons and pinwheels. Vendors sold pork dumplings and other treats, such as freshly made caramel candy sculpted into chubby pig shapes.
The pig is one of 12 animals (or mythical animals in the case of the dragon) on the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, which follows the lunar calendar. According to Chinese astrology, people born in pig years are polite, honest, hardworking and loyal. They are also lucky, which is why many Chinese like to have babies in a pig year.
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