The Chinese New Year's Eve, also called the Spring Festival, will be celebrated for the first time in Romania in an organized event, at Nichita Stanescu Park in Bucharest on February 10. The event will include artistic shows, food exhibitions and fireworks.
The festival, whose purpose is to promote Chinese cultural heritage, is organized by the Cultural Centre Romania-China, the Bucharest City Hall and the Chinese Embassy in Bucharest.
The Spring Festival takes place each year on a different day, according to the moon's position to the sun and it signifies the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
This year, the Chinese people celebrate it starting on February 9, when the Rooster's year begins, according to the Chinese Zodiac.
The traditional Chinese calendar counts the years in a special method of cycles. Each cycle has 60 years and is formed by combining the 10 Thian-Gan (sky stalks) with the 12 Di-Zhi (earthly branches). In the past, the Chinese gave the 12 branches animal names, such as the horse, the dog, the monkey, the pig, the rooster and so on.
The Chinese New Year's Eve symbolizes the importance of family, which is why the eve and the first day of the New Year are usually spent with family members. It is also a time to commemorate the ancestors, who are thanked for the family's existence and welfare.
The New Year's feast is very rich, as the Chinese serve 12 dishes, including fish, mustard leaves, turnips and the traditional "nian-gao" cake. The most important dish is the Chinese dumpling as it is believed to bring wealth to the house it is served in. Coins are placed in the dumplings and whoever finds one is said to have luck in the New Year.
When it's almost midnight, people go out to watch the fireworks. Chinese people believe the fireworks send away the evil spirits that come in great number in this period. Many people even seal their windows and doors with red colored tapes to stop the evil spirits from entering their homes.
The Chinese New Year's Eve ends with the Lanterns Festival, on the fifth day of the new year.