Asian Lunar New Year - Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - Happy Lunar New Year everyone! All around the world there are celebrations with feasts, fireworks and dancing dragons. It's a time for Asian families and familes of Asian decent to get together and revel in the new year. It is Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day all wrapped into one in asian culture. It's often called "Chinese New Year," but this isn't particularly accurate. While it is widely observed in China, it is also an important holiday for people throughout East Asia and of Asian ancestry all over the world. Believe it or not, there are still people out there who do not realize all Asian people are NOT Chinese. Lunar New Year is also a more accurate term. The holiday usually begins on the first day of the first lunar month. This makes the lunar calendar much more accurate than the Julian calendar. Jokes are often made about the Chinese being backward for celebrating the new year late. In reality the west celebrates the new year early. While the traditional Chinese calendar does not record continuously numbered years, 2008 is considered year 4705. So happy 4705 everyone! Kent Ninomiya