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Welcome to 1999! With the change in the New Year, many of us try to change some of our bad habits or make a promise to finish projects we have been putting off. Many times we try and we are successful at satisfying our New Year resolutions. Sometimes, we are not so successful. Instead of waiting until next year to make a new set of resolutions, you have another option to take care of those forgotten promises.

On January 28, the Chinese New Year will begin. The origin of the Chinese New Year is itself centuries old - in fact, too old to actually be traced. It is popularly recognized as the Spring Festival and celebrations last 15 days.

Preparations tend to begin a month before the date of the Chinese New Year. A huge clean-up gets underway days before the New Year, when Chinese houses are cleaned from top to bottom, to sweep away any traces of bad luck, and doors and windowpanes are given a new coat of paint, usually red. The doors and windows are then decorated with paper and couplets with themes such as happiness, wealth and longevity printed on them.

The eve of the New Year is perhaps the most exciting part of the event, as anticipation creeps in. Here, traditions and rituals are carefully observed in everything from food to clothing. Dinner is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings, signifying different good wishes. It’s usual to wear something red as this color is meant to ward off evil. After dinner, the family sit up for the night playing cards, board games or watching TV programs dedicated to the occasion. At midnight, the sky is lit up by fireworks.

On the day itself, an ancient custom called Hong Bao, meaning Red Packet, takes place. This involves married couples giving children and unmarried adults money in red envelopes. Then the family begins to say greetings from door to door, first to their relatives and then their neighbors. Like the Western saying “let bygones be bygones,” at Chinese New Year, grudges are very easily cast aside.

Although celebrations of the Chinese New Year vary, the underlying message is one of peace and happiness for family members and friends.