It’s the first day of Chinese New Year today, and it’s now the Year of the Monkey.
Did you know
– It’s a 15 day celebration running over many countries, including places like Mauritius and the Philippines
– If you’re into horoscopes, there’s a prediction for each year of the Chinese zodiac
– Most of the Chinese New Year food/symbols that you see involve word puns
– Melbourne has lots of celebratory events dotted around Victoria
– Good Luck Food to eat – many of them involve word puns and are just plain delicious. In particular, if you can find them, have some sweet mandarins, a staple of the festival in Asia. Or try some yusheng, if you can find a place to have it in.
– Yes there’s a reason why there are 15 days to the celebration: each day means something. For example, the 15th day is the Chinese Valentine’s Day:
Most romantic of the Chinese New Year traditions, single women once wrote contact information on oranges, then threw them into the river. Men would collect the oranges and determine if they would take a chance with contacting a woman based on the sweetness or sourness of the orange!