Happy Chinese New Year! Kong sei fat choi!

Chinese new year 2009 falls on 26th of January, 2009 (animal sign OX). The Chinese New Year is celebrated as the symbol of spring's celebration. In fact in China the Chinese New Year is still called the Spring festival(Chun Jie). It is celebrated after the fall harvest and before the spring planting season. The date of the Chinese New Year is always changing and is dependant on the Chinese calendar. Emperor Huangdi in the year 2637 B.C.E invented the Chinese calendar.

The Chinese calendar is a combined solar/lunar calendar and is somewhat similar to the Chinese calendar. For the purpose of determining the dates of the Chinese New Year some astronomical calculations need to be taken care of. Firstly, we need to determine the dates for the new moon. The new moon is the black moon that is when the moon is in conjunction with the sun.
The date of the new moon is taken as the first day of the new month. Secondly those dates are determined when the sun's longitude is the multiple of 30 degrees. These dates are termed as Principal terms and are used for determining the number of each month.

The Principle term 1 takes place when the sun's longitude is 330 degrees, the 2nd Principle term occurs when the sun's longitude is about 0 degrees. The principle term 3 takes place when the sun's longitude is 30 degrees, the principle term 11 occurs when the sun's longitude is 270 degrees and the principle term 12 occurs when the sun's longitude is 300 degrees.

In Cambodia, many people are celebrating this festival since large number of us are half-blood Chinese. This is one of the most jubilant ocassions in Cambodia. Many people gather their families and visit their relatives; moreover, it is the best time for people to relax and have fun with family! Many people go to various local tourism sites especially Sihanouk ville, Siem Reap (land of history:Angkor) and thousands of beautiful sites in Cambodia. Some (depending on living standard) may go visit oversea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Korea or maybe some other countries. Therefore, the capital, Phnom Penh, is becoming very quite! I may go to a province, yet it is for charity work... So how about all of you? Share fun with me then.... :)

Happy Chinese New Year again!!! Wish you all the best!