This year, the Chinese New Year opens with the year of the Earth Dog. In Chinese astrology, the sign of the Dog is associated with qualities such as loyalty, trust and generosity.
Originally, Chinese New Year’s Eve celebrates the winter solstice and marks the end of the cold season and the arrival of the beautiful days. Since the Chinese calendar is a luni-solar calendar, the date of Chinese New Year in the Gregorian calendar varies from year to year, but always falls between January 21 and February 20, during the second new moon after the winter solstice when the sun is in the sign of Aquarius. Months are lunar months, that means that the first day of each month is the new moon and the 15th day is the full moon. This year, it will take place on February 16th, at the beginning of a new moon.
Traditionally, festivities begin with a New Year’s dinner and end 15 days later. In China and all over the world where it will be celebrated, Chinese New Year’s Eve marks an important moment. On the lintels of the doors, we will see greetings written on red paper, symbol of luck. The characters of good auspice as happiness or spring will be gladly stuck upside down because “invert” is homophone to “arrive”. So the word overthrown happiness means: “Happiness has arrived”.
This New Year’s Day is therefore a festive time, the spring festival, during which spring cleaning is done to prepare the transition to the new year’s energies.
The seasons in Chinese medicine are not organized in the same way as in the Western vision. According to the Chinese calendar, spring starts around 5 February. This may seem very early, but even if it is not yet perceptible, the ascent of the yang that we observe in nature with the first signs of sap rising in the trees begins at the beginning of February. March 20 marks the climax of spring.
From a preventive point of view, starting in February, it is interesting to work on liver energy, especially for people prone to seasonal allergies.
