Today is the first day of the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. The nomenclature of the years is based on a sixty year cycle of five elements and twelve creatures. This will be the year of the water dragon. This is the third festival in a run, following Diwali in October and Christmas in December.

Like the Indian, but unlike the Gregorian calendar which is solar and the Islamic calendar which is lunar, the Chinese calendar is lunisolar. The solar New Year falls at December 21st, the winter solstice. The twelve months of the lunar calendar are anchored to the solar calendar because the winter solstice always falls in the 11th month of the lunar year. The 1st month of the lunar calendar will therefore start sometime between January 21st and February 21st, depending on which date in the 11th month the winter solstice occurs.

Because the lunar month is only 29 or 30 days, additional months are required from time to time to keep the lunar calendar in line with the seasons. They are added when there is a lunar month which doesn’t include one of the significant days in the solar calendar, either a solstice or an equinox, or the dates at even intervals apart in the interim months. The intercalary month will never be the 11th month, as this always includes the winter solstice, and very rarely the 12th month, apparently for reasons associated with the speed of the Earth’s orbit at this time of year.

Chinese New Year is a spring festival and a time to clean out the clutter accumulated in the last year, settle bills and resolve outstanding disputes. It is also the time for family reunions. The roads onto the island have been backed up with traffic as people return home and equally many of our neighbours have also left to spend the holiday in Singapore or elsewhere. Firecrackers were exploded during the night. The temples, hotels and malls are hung with red lanterns and people have decorated the thresholds of their homes with swags of red cloth and pendants.

Symbolic meanings and associations are opaque to the outsider and I don’t think it is necessary to try to understand the meanings. I thinks it’s better to appreciate the festivals as performances and the props,  whether Chinese lanterns, Christmas lights or Diwali lamps; as components of the performance, without the clutter of the stories.