Chinese New Year

Learn about The Chinese Calendar

"Three of the most prominent are the Jewish, Muslim, and Chinese. Both the Jewish and
Chinese calendars are lunisolar: The years are reckoned according to the sun but the
months according to the moon.

"The Chinese calendar is basically lunar, or based on the moon, consisting of 12 months of
alternately 29 and 30 days. This lunar year totals 354 days. To keep this calendar in step
with the solar year of about 365 days, intercalary months are periodically inserted in much
the same way they are in the Jewish calendar. One interesting feature of the Chinese
calendar is the naming of the years. Twelve animal names from ancient times have been
attached to years. These names, in order of their occurrence, are: rat, ox, tiger, hare,
dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, fowl, dog, and pig. This cycle of years is frequently
used for astrological purposes, much the same way the 12 signs of the zodiac are used in
the West to describe personality traits and to tell fortunes."
~From Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia~

In conjunction with Chinese New Year, it's good to know a little more about the chinese beliefs. I find this site (annie's homepage) very interesting, and I like it very much. Very informative.