Happy Chinese New Year!

THE Chinese New Year began today (February 19), marking the beginning of the 2015 Year of the Goat (or sheep).

With a large Chinese community on the Costa del Sol and throughout Spain in general, celebrations have been ongoing as our friends from the East welcome a New Year in the most important Chinese festival on the calendar and celebrated for 15 days.

In Madrid, an El Corte Ingles department store draped its entire façade with an advertisement featuring a giant photo of Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and the words: ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ emblazoned across it. More events are planned in the Spanish capital with a Chinese New Year fair taking place at the weekend, highlighting the cultural aspects of the holiday and promoting cultural integration.

2015 marks the Year of the Goat, often referred to as the Year of the Sheep also due to the Chinese character ‘yang’, which can translate to both sheep or goat. Those people born in the years 1919, 1931, 1943, 1967, 1979, 1991 or 2003 are goats, whose lucky colours are brown, red and purple. According to Chinese custom, goats are supposedly kind and their best months in the year will be August and November.