CHINESE NEW YEAR COMPETITION

If you are born in the Year of the Pig, you enjoy life and all it has to offer, including family and friends. You are honest and thoughtful and expect the same of other people. Pigs can be perceived as oblivious or gullible because they do care about others so much that they will do just about anything for a friend in need. Here's the winning calendars in the Chinese New Year competition. Winners for the Years 4 and 5 classes were Rachel (5I), Cassie (5C) and Sophie (4C). Click on the calendars for the full size version.

     

Sophie (4C)

Rachel (5I)

Cassie (5C)
Here are some banners that the children made:

CALENDAR:
The Chinese Lunar New Year is the longest chronological record in history, dating from 2600BC, when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the zodiac. Like the Western calendar, The Chinese Lunar Calendar is a yearly one, with the start of the lunar year being based on the cycles of the moon. Therefore, because of this cyclical dating, the beginning of the year can fall anywhere between late January and the middle of February. This year it falls on 29 January. A complete cycle takes 60 years and is made up of five cycles of 12 years each.

The Chinese Lunar Calendar names each of the twelve years after an animal. Legend has it that the Lord Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he departed from earth. Only twelve came to bid him farewell and as a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The Chinese believe the animal ruling the year in which a person is born has a profound influence on personality, saying: "This is the animal that hides in your heart."
 

CHINESE NEW YEAR:
The oldest and most important festival in China is the Spring Festival, more commonly known in the West as Chinese New Year. Like all Chinese festivals, the date of the new year is determined by the lunar/solar calendar rather than the Western (Gregorian) calendar, so the date of the holiday varies from late January to mid February.

The Spring festival celebrates the earth coming back to life, and the start of ploughing and sowing. In the past, feudal rulers of dynasties placed great importance on this occasion, and ceremonies to usher in the season were performed.

Preparations for the New Year festival start during the last few days of the last moon. Houses are thoroughly cleaned, debts repaid, hair cut and new clothes bought. Doors are decorated with vertical scrolls of characters on red paper whose texts seek good luck and praise nature, this practice stemming from the hanging of peach-wood charms to keep away ghosts and evil spirits. In many homes incense is burned, and also in the temples as a mark of respect to ancestors.

On New Year’s Eve houses are brightly lit and a large family dinner is served. In the south of China sticky-sweet glutinous rice pudding called 'nian gao' is served, while in the north the steamed dumpling jiaozi is popular. Most celebrating the festival stay up till midnight, when fireworks are lit, to drive away evil spirits. New Years day is often spent visiting neighbours, family and friends.

The public holiday for New Year lasts 3 days in China, but the festival traditionally lasts till the 15th day of the lunar month and ends with the ‘Lantern Festival’. Here, houses are decorated with colourful lanterns, and yuanxioa, a sweet or savoury fried or boiled dumpling made of glutinous rice flour is eaten. 

THE YEAR OF THE PIG:
 "It's better to give than to receive" would probably be the Pig’s motto. Pigs are more comfortable giving of their own time or attention than they are to ask others for it. They do not find asking for help an easy task and would rather carry the burden themselves. Pigs will do anything they can to maintain a sense of peace amongst family or friends. This can lead to a tendency to be taken advantage of, but Pigs basically forgive and forget everything. They are compassionate souls who simply want to keep the peace.

HEALTH
Pigs enjoy being around other people and so being alone for long periods of time can cause illness in a Pig. They also like to party and have a tendency to over do it at times. Because they do not get much exercise they also have a tendency to gain weight. A Pig’s stomach and intestines are prime spots for sickness because he tends to overindulge with food, alcohol or nicotine. In order to maintain a clean bill of health, Pigs should watch their diets, make sure they get enough vitamins and minerals each day and somehow work an exercise routing into their daily lives.

AT HOME WITH THE PIG
Pigs have comfortable, friendly homes that just invite you in. As much as they love company you can believe their homes are going to reflect materialistic gains. Pigs like to show off assets and pay close attention to their decorations in their homes. They can certainly make something out of nothing; however, they don’t make cleaning or chores a top priority.

THE PIG AT WORK
Pigs generally do really well when they get to be creative. They usually do better at jobs where they can express themselves. They are enthusiastic about taking on new responsibility at work and jump in to give a hand to colleagues in need. Pigs are well-liked by co-workers because are so willing to help and they have an eye for detail that makes them quite invaluable to upper management.
 

1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007

THE FIRE PIG - 1947 & 2007
Active, outgoing and extroverted, Fire Pigs breathe new life into everything they do. These Pigs are vivid, motivated individuals who cannot be deterred from a goal once they have set it. They are emotional and passionate about their loved ones, their occupations and their objectives. They are bold and vivacious, unafraid to take risks despite the consequences. They make great bosses because they do work so hard and because they are so spirited. But don’t double cross a Fire Pig. They have the ability to be quite abrasive when things don’t turn out as they planned.
 
Famous people born in the Year Of The Pig: Albert Schweitzer, Ernest Hemingway, Ted Danson, Al Capone, Hillary Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Lucille Ball, Glenn Close, Woody Allen, Alfred Hitchcok, Randy Travis, Winona Ryder, Kevin Kline
 

What year were you born in?

Rat   1924 1936 1948 1960 1972 1984 1996

Ox   1925 1937 1949 1961 1973 1985 1997
Tiger   1926 1938 1950 1962 1974 1986 1998
Rabbit   1927 1939 1951 1963 1975 1987 1999
Dragon   1928 1940 1952 1964 1976 1988 2000
Snake   1929 1941 1953 1965 1977 1989 2001
Horse   1930 1942 1954 1966 1978 1990 2002
Ram   1931 1943 1955 1967 1979 1991 2003
Monkey   1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 2004
Rooster   1933 1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005
Dog   1934 1946 1958 1970 1982 1994 2006
Pig   1935 1947 1959 1971 1983 1995 2007

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Page by Glenda Crew, March, 2007