That is Cantonese for “wishing you great happiness and prosperity”. In Mandarin, you would say ‘gong xi fa cai’.

This is what you would say to someone to wish them a Happy Chinese New Year. And why? Because today, February 16th, is the beginning of the Chinese New year! It’s the year of the dog.

I found out some facts when I went online. Officially, the holiday is three days, unofficially, it will be celebrated over two weeks, I like that! Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar, so it’s not the same date every year, hmm…sounds familiar!

The holiday was born out of the myth of Nian, which is also the Chinese word for year, who was a beast that would appear every New Year’s Eve and attack villagers, ouch! So, the legend says that to scare away the beast, villagers would put up red banners and explode firecrackers and bang drums. Does that sound like some Chinese celebrations you’ve seen or heard of?

When I was a kid, we would celebrate Chinese New Year with a family we were close with, it was wonderful, the food, the family, friends and I’ll never forget the red envelopes with cash in them. I bet I still have one of those envelopes!

Just like astrological zodiac signs, each sign of the Chinese zodiac has their own personality traits. The dog is a true companion, associated with loyalty, honestly, intelligence with a strong sense of right and wrong. They are known to be swift and passionate believers in their own personal philosophy. The dog does its best to protect high-integrity people and support their cause.

Famous dogs: Winston Churchill, Mother Theresa, Elvis Presley, Bill Clinton, Steven Spielberg, Madonna and Michael Jackson!

I wish to tell all who are celebrating and especially JCT, her daughter, ST and her mom, LaLa, Gǒu nián jí xiáng.