By Sammie Jones-
Chinese people all over the world are getting ready to celebrate the year of the dog today.
Most Chinese families prepare their homes to welcome the new lunar new year by conducting a thorough clean. Homes are decorated red to signify good luck. Everything on the day has to be auspicious so that the year ahead is filled with prosperity and happiness. Chinese New Year takes place on different dates every year, because it is based on the lunar calendar.
The lunar calendar means the celebration always falls on a different date – unlike the January 1 New Year we are used to, based on the Gregorian calendar.
Chinese families generally don’t clean or sweep on New Year’s Day because it is classed as sweeping away all the desirable good fortune. Families come together during the reunion dinner in the evening , and all dishes on the menu have special names with auspicious meanings. Chinese Londoners will be hosting a series of brilliant events in and around Chinatown, where a carnival of “lively parades, martial arts displays and immersive family experiences” will be take place to welcome the year of the dog.
Londoners will get carried away in lion dances or playing dress-up in traditional Han costumes
A flood of Chinese visitors are expected to swamp West London to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
In Nottingham, over 200 are expected to turn up for the revelry with a traditional lion dance in Hockley tomorrow, Saturday
The supermarket Oriental Mart will be hosting the free event in Heathcoat Street, where the celebration the Year of the Dog will be in high spirits