Chinese New Year: The Year of the Horse



Ivan and the Chestnut Horse

by

Edmund Dulac, 1919

The Chinese New Year is celebrated on January 31, 2014. This year they honor the Year of the Horse.

 “The spirit of the horse is recognized to be the Chinese people's ethos – making unremitting efforts to improve themselves. It is energetic, bright, warm-hearted, intelligent and able. Ancient people liked to designate an able person as 'Qianli Ma', a horse that covers a thousand li a day (one li equals 500 meters).”

~ Each day of the fifteen-day celebration has its own traditions, such as visiting in-laws or staying home to welcome good fortune.

~ Fireworks displays during Chinese New Year stem from a custom of lighting bamboo stalks on fire to ward off evil spirits.

~ In China, families gather together for meals, especially for a feast on New Year's Eve.

~ The Chinese New Year ends with the Lantern Festival, celebrated at night with displays and parades of painted lanterns.

~ The highlight of the Lantern Festival is the Dragon Dance. Beautiful dragons made of paper, silk and bamboo are held overhead, and appear to dance as they make their way along the parade routes.

~ In China, the public holiday lasts three days, but celebrations take place over the entire 15 day period.

FACTS ABOUT HORSES

• Horses were domesticated by humans about 3500 B.C.
• Horses can sleep standing up.
• Horses can’t burp.
• Horses can live to over 30 years old.
• A horse’s age can be determined by his teeth.
• Horses are herbivores.
• Arabian horses have one less vertebrae than other horses.

The above information was found at the following sites:

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/horse.htm
http://horses.about.com/od/understandinghorses/tp/FactsAboutHorses.htm

STORIES

A small sampling of stories to help you gallop into the New Year.

Horse Cursed by the Sun – South Africa

http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/saft/sft41.htm

Ivan and the Chestnut Horse - Russian

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/5526/

The Black Horse - Ireland

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mcft/mcft05.htm

The Dun Horse – Russia

http://www.pantheon.org/areas/folklore/folktales/articles/dun_horse.html

The Ebony Horse – Persia

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/arabian/bl-arabian-ebony.htm

The Enchanted Horse – Persia

http://www.worldoftales.com/Asian_folktales/Arab_folktale_33.html

The Flaming Horse: The Story of a Country Where the Sun Never Shines -Czechoslovak Folktale

http://www.worldoftales.com/European_folktales/Czechoslovak_folktale_3.html

The Fox and the Horse – Grimm/Germany

http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-47.html

The Girl With the Horse’s Head - China
http://www.worldoftales.com/Asian_folktales/Chinese_Folktale_36.html

The Ghost Stallion - Yinnuwok/Native American

http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/Ghost_Stallion-Yinnuwok.html

The Horse’s Revenge

http://www.pitara.com/talespin/folktales/online.asp?story=15

The Kelpie of Loch Garve - Scotland

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/scotland/ross-and-cromarty/folklore/the-kelpie-of-loch-garve.html

The Magic Horse – Iran

http://www.storiestogrowby.com/stories/magic_horse_persian.html

The Mosquito and the Horse - Estonia

http://www.fairy-tales.parnas.info/en/estonian/mosquito.html

The Princess and the Glass Mountain – Czechoslovakia

http://www.worldoftales.com/European_folktales/Swedish_folktale_16.html

The Swift Blue One – Native American

http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/se/wsgr/wsgr15.htm

The Tale of the Wind Horse – Choctaw/Native American

http://www.indianlegend.com/choctaw/choctaw_002.htm

White Horse – Manitoba Ghost Story from the Cree Tribe

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/post_1.html

Horse Cursed by the Sun – South Africa

http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/saft/sft41.htm

Storybug.net: Dragons - Mythical, Mystical, Magical Creatures! – Here is a previous blog post filled with dragon tails, curriculum, crafts and more to augment your Chinese New Year celebration.

http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/05/dragons-mythical-mystical-magical.html

Below are two previous blog posts I wrote for The Year of the Tiger and the Year of the Rat. You will find useful background information to augment your Chinese New Year programs.

Year of the Tiger

http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2009/12/2010-year-of-tiger.html

Gung Hay Fat Choy

http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2008/02/gung-hay-fat-choy.html

BOOKS

Horses: Myths, Legends, Folktales and Ancient Stories by Pat Perrin

“These horse stories have been collected from great storytellers and edited to replace obsolete words, simplify sentences, and clarify meaning--16 fabulous tales, 4 extra spreads, and 16 charming illustrations.”

http://www.amazon.com/Horses-legends-folktales-ancient-stories/dp/1935178148  

Apples4theTeacher -  Recommended books for the Chinese New Year.

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/chinese-new-year/kids-books/

CRAFTS

About.Com – Clothespin Horse Craft

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/clothespins/a/Clothespin_Horse_Craft.htm

About. Com: Pinecone Pony

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/pineconecrafts/a/PineConePony.htm

Danielle’s Place

http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/HorseCrafts.html

DLTK’s Craft for Kids – Toilet Paper Roll Horse

http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mhorse.html

Kidspot – Hobby Horse

http://www.kidspot.com.au/School-Play-Hobby-horse+1663+37+article.htm

First Pallette.com – Chinese Paper Lantern

http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/World/chinesepaperlantern/chinesepaperlantern.html

First Pallette.com – Chinese Dragon Mask

http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/Wearables/chinesedragonmask/chinesedragonmask.html

CURRICULUM

Horse Lesson Plan Ideas for Pre-K Teachers

http://voices.yahoo.com/horse-lesson-plan-ideas-pre-k-teachers-11999335.html?cat=7

 PBS -  Creating the Perfect Horse – Grades 9 – 12

“Students use a problem-based approach to explore the possibility that the qualities of different horse breeds — strength, speed, agility, stamina, beauty, intelligence, disposition — could be incorporated to create the “perfect horse…”

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/lessons/creating-the-perfect-horse/lesson/851/

The Year of the Horse – A number of lesson plans from The American International School of Monrovia, Liberia.

http://www.aismonrovia.com/academics/year-of-the-horse-lesson-plans

QUOTES

Horse Quotations and What They May Mean

http://horses.about.com/od/understandinghorses/tp/horsequotations.htm

MUSIC

NancyMusic.com – Cute song and fingerplay for the Chinese New Year.

http://www.nancymusic.com/Gunghayplay.htm

Karen Chace 2013 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.