Chinese New Year in Asia is a lot of fun and in this Year of the Rabbit, we see rabbits every where! I did not know it was the Year of the Rabbit so I was confused at first and thought perhaps they were celebrating Easter very early in Asia. Ha! As soon as Christmas in Asia was finished, we started seeing rabbits every where we looked to celebrate Chinese New Year in Asia.
This is the Year of the Rabbit ( or Hare) according to the Chinese Zodiac calendar and it is celebrated from Bejing to New York City Chinatown, but we find it a much bigger celebration in Chinese dominanted Penang than we ever experienced in the USA. The whole country of Malaysia takes at least a week off from work or school. It's the Chinese Spring Festival and part of the Lunar New Year celebrations.(a.k.a. Spring Festival or chun jie 春莭).
The Year of the Rabbit is sandwhiched between more turbulant Tiger and Dragon years, so it is said to be a year to heal, recover, clean, live simply, economically and in a minimalist way. Sounds perfect for our family travel globetrotting lifestyle!