Happy Chinese New Year

Today marks the start of the Chinese Year of the Dragon.  Apparently this is a very popular year and many couples will be trying to make sure a child is born in the next 12 months.

I was in London's Chinatown on Saturday and was able to see the whole place decorated to the hilt ready for new year.  It is quite something to see this.

It's the details that matter and did you know that some are there all year round?  The glass panels at the bottom of the red telephone boxes have dragon designs, look.

Now some facts about the Chinese New Year:

• the date moves with the new moon in late January/early February
• this is the biggest festival in the Chinese year
• China will now celebrate for 3 days
• there is no religious aspect to the festival
• the focus for the festival is peace and prosperity for the family

This year is the Year of the Dragon which as I mentioned is special.  People born in the year of the Dragon (once every 12 years) are said to be confident, hardworking, competitive, energetic, determined and inspirational.  They are project people rather than routine based.  Personally dragons are loyal friends and tend to be popular and fun loving. This is the luckiest year of the chinese zodiac.

For Interest;
Mike and I are Tigers - Sensitive, emotiona, adventurous, confident, risk takers, dislike taking orders, good at seeing problems, but less able to see the solutions. Tigers are warm and generous to the people they love and often seek a shoulder to cry on when feeling down.

Rachel is a Rooster - Hardworking, strong-willed, confident, well organised, good time keeper.  Roosters enjoy being the centre of attention and love flattery, are often outspoken and hate criticism of themselves though they can be inclined to find fault with other people.