Wednesday wonders: Chinese New Year

I'm sure many of you will be surprised that I'm not sharing Valentines today.  But to me, Valentine's Day is for lovers and greeting card companies cashing in on what is considered love, so I'm going with Chinese New Year, which this year is Friday, February 16.  For once, I didn't get these photos from Pexels.

Here are a few facts you might like to know about Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dog:

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for Chinese.

Chinese New Years are named after a cycle of 12 animals: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig, which are the signs of the Chinese Zodiac. Chinese Astrology associates character traits with people born in the year of each of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

The Chinese calendar needs to assign a unique animal name for each day inside the lunar month. Sometimes, the Chinese Lunar Calendar needs to add an extra lunar month (Leap Lunar Month) in the cycle to match the speed of the solar cycle. For example, in Year 2006, the Chinese calendar has two 7th lunar months. A lunar month contains 29 or 30 days. Therefore, a Chinese calendar needs 60 different animal names to make every single day unique such as the case of a leap lunar month.

To make the 60 unique color animal names, Chinese add the name of Five Elements, which are Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth, in addition to animal names.  Five Elements are connected to colors, which are White, Black, Green, Red, and Brown. That's why each Chinese year also has a color animal name.   Therefore, this is the Year of the Brown Earth Dog.  I remember a few years back, I used a wooden painted-by-me rocking horse on a page to signify the Year of the Green Wood Horse.

Celebrations of the Chinese New Year start on New Year’s Day and continue for fifteen days.

There is a specific ritual (and sometimes several) for each of the 15 days.

The Chinese New Year 2018 will start on February 16, 2018 which corresponds to the second new moon after the winter Solstice.

2018 is, as noted above, the year of the Brown Earth Dog, and those born under this sign tend to show great determination and could attain the highest level of achievement if they decide to. The Dog has excellent manners, easily makes and keeps friends, works very hard, and appreciates luxury and the good things in life. They are very romantic, loving, sexy, and make loyal partners.

2018 is the Chinese 4715th Year.

Chinese New Year is a national holiday in China.

And because I always celebrate Chinese New Year with a spread of my own,

here is the page I created and scanned.

I didn't think it showed the gold and silver well, so I took some photos, too.

You can see this is the Year of the Brown Earth Dog.

I always use these Chinese Lanterns each Chinese New Year that my dear friend Cindy sent me years ago.  I think I have enough for maybe three or four more years, too.   Please note Year 4716 will begin on February 16.

I created this in my large art journal.  I used three different joss papers, of which the round ones include the Chinese Zodiac.

And because this is an animal, I am also joining Rike at Rike's Art this month's host at Art Journal Journey with her theme Animals A to Z.

Thank you for visiting today.  I hope to see you at Art Journal Journey, too.   Next week I hope to have another Wednesday wonders post that will be inspired by a blog I visit often.  Maybe yours!