An estimated 1.4 billion people around the world will be celebrating the New Year on February 8, 2016, in addition to January 1, 2016.
Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, starts on the night of the second new moon of the winter solstice and ends 15 days later on night of the full moon.
During Chinese New Year, families gather to enjoy delicious foods and to wish each other good luck in the year ahead. Children are often given red envelopes filled with coins, though the money inside is not as important as the colour and symbol found on the envelopes, which signifies happiness and good blessings.
Each year, the New Year celebration is associated with an astrological animal. 2016 is the year of the Red Monkey, also known as the Fire Monkey.
People born in the year of the Monkey are said to be wise, intelligent, confident, charismatic, loyal, inventive and have leadership, according to Your Chinese Astrology. Celebrities born in the year of the Monkey include Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Dickens, Yao Ming, Celine Dion, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Halle Berry, Christina Aguilera, Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor, Gisele Bundchen and Selena Gomez.
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