In the celebration of the Chinese New Year the celebrating can last up to 15 days only in the country but in urban areas it lasts only seven days. The holiday is also known as Spring Festival. Dates for this celebration change almost every year. On the first day of the Chinese New Year they go along and visit all of the elderly to show them respect and graces. They spend the whole first day seeing every one of them.

The most commonly known legend about the Chinese zodiac is that the Jade Emperor (The Emperor in Heaven in Chinese folklore) ordered that animals would be chosen to become the calendar signs. The first 12 that showed up would be chosen for each year. The rat and cat were neighbors and heard of the wonderful news but they both said that they always awoke too late, so the rat made a promise that he would wake early and they both could leave together. Well when he awoke the rat was so excited her forgot all about his promise to the cat and left without him. He knew that he couldn’t beat the other animals that were on their way so he talked the straightforward ox into letting him ride on his back, but only if the rat sang to him. So the ox finally agreed they were the first to arrive, the ox thought he had first place in the bag but he hadn’t realized that the rat had slipped in before him. Later when the cat woke up and the choosing was over he became very angry with the rat and that is why whenever a cat sees a rat they chase them all around trying to kill them.

Nobody really knows when the Chinese New Year began but the story behind it is that a beast would attack the towns. The people would defend themselves by making loud noises and very bright lights being on all the time. Eventually the people changed it into a celebration.



I am the year of the rat. I don’t really agree with any of it, I mean I can be nice... but not really, at all. I’m not very popular, and I’m a good artist but not the best by any means. I can hardly draw a portrait.