Borrego Sun - Since 1949

Many around the world celebrated one of the year's biggest festivals – the Lunar New Year, which marks the first new moon of the lunar calendar.

This year, the Lunar New Year, began on February 10, kicking off the 15-day Spring Festival.

For the year 2024, it is the Year of the Dragon. In the Chinese zodiac calendar, it is best described as a 12-year cycle represented by 12 different animals, in this order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.

The dragon is the fifth animal in the Chinese zodiac. In the Chinese culture, the dragon represents good luck, strength, health and also the male element Yang. The dragon is unique because it is the only mythical creature of all the animals in the Chinese zodiac and babies are born in the year of the dragon more than any other animal.

In many other cultures, such as the Western, they look at the dragon as a symbol for evil and darkness. But in China, they regard the dragon as being a symbol representing imperial power and authority.

Your personal zodiac animal sign is determined by your year of birth, meaning 2024 will welcome plenty of baby dragons to the world. Those born in 2025 will be snakes, and so on.

Followers believe that for each Chinese zodiac sign, luck will depend largely on the positions of the Tai Sui – a collective name for the stellar deities thought to rotate parallel to and in the opposite direction of Jupiter.

Different geomancy masters may interpret the data differently, but there is usually a consensus on what the year means for each zodiac animal based on the positions of the stars.

Fun aside, Lunar New Year can actually be a lot of work. Festivities often last for 15 days – sometimes even more – with different tasks and activities taking place over that period.

Festive cakes and puddings are made on the 24th day of the last lunar month (February 3 in 2024). Why? The word for cakes and puddings is "gao" in Mandarin and "gou" in Cantonese, which sound the same as the word for "tall." As a result, eating these treats is believed to lead to improvements and growth in the coming year. No Lunar New Year preparation would be complete without the aforementioned hanging of red banners bearing auspicious phrases and idioms (called fai chun in Cantonese, or chunlian, in Mandarin) at home – beginning with one's front door.

Not all prep work is fun. According to Lunar New Year tradition, a big cleanup should be carried out in homes on the 28th day of the last lunar month, which falls on February 7 this year. The aim is to rid your home of any bad luck that's accumulated over the past year. There are many do's and don't for the Lunar New Year, all of which vary based on family and tradition.