New Year of the Chinese calendar

Today is the Chinese New Year of the calendar that takes us into the Year of the Wood Horse.

The New Year meal is called the "Banquet of Spring" or "Banquet of the Gods of Fortune", it begins in the evening of the last day of the year to end at the dawn of the new year. This is the meal that  inaugurates a new period and symbolizes all meals ahead. That is why it must be particularly successful, friendly, and rich.

Most foods have a special meaning. Fish and seafood are featured, as what comes from the sea or water is a sign of wealth (the word "fish" and the word "surplus" are pronounced the same in Chinese). Accompanying noodles (their length, they indicate longevity), rice, dates, beans or bamboo (symbol of youth).

At the end of the meal, sweets, cakes, nibbles and fruit. Many clementines, these Chinese fruit is a homonym of "happy event".