Happy Chinese New Year: Year of the Rabbit

Our Mandarin Program is alive and well at Cootes Paradise especially as they prepare to celebrate the Chinese New Year happening this weekend!

Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. In Chinese, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival (traditional Chinese: 春節; simplified Chinese: 春节; pinyin: Chūnjié).  It is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture, and has strongly influenced Lunar New Year celebrations of its 56 ethnic groups, such as the Losar of Tibet (Tibetan: ལོ་གསར་), and of China’s neighbours, including the Korean New Year (Korean: 설날; RR: Seollal), and the Tết of Vietnam, as well as in Okinawa.  It is also celebrated worldwide in regions and countries that houses significant Overseas Chinese or Sinophone populations, especially in Southeast Asia. These include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is also prominent beyond Asia, especially in Australia, Canada, Mauritius, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as various European countries.

We wish all of our families who are celebrating a Happy Chinese New year!

We are excited to share the celebrations here from Cootes: