Chinese New Year Let's Celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate It's great to celebrate. #

Hello. I'm Thomas Ticker of number 22.

When it comes to parties and celebrations, I'm your man.

But have you met my friend Sprocket?

She's really excited

because a rat is going to turn up somewhere in today's festival.

She's always dreaming of chasing rats and mice.

The festival is Chinese New Year,

and if you like the colour red,

then you're going to love this celebration!

Let's have a look.

Hi, I'm Abby and this is my brother Yen.

And we're getting ready to celebrate Chinese New Year.

My family come from China,

but we live here in Liverpool.

We celebrate Chinese New Year

when there's a new moon every spring.

Hi, Abby, hi, Yen. Are you ready to give the house a good clean with me?

-Yeah.

-There's your glove.

And there's your glove.

Before the New Year, we give the house a good clean.

Here we go, Yen, that's the cloth.

-Abby, do you want to do the dust?

-Thank you.

Can you get the white bits as well?

Abby, do you know why we clean up the house before New Year?

Because we want to get rid of all the bad things

and welcome the New Year.

Now the house is clean, let's put up some decorations.

The signs are always red for good luck.

We're putting up signs with the Chinese word "dai gat" written on it,

which means "lots of luck".

And the flowers are to remind us of the springtime.

Every year is named after one of 12 different animals.

I was born in the Year of the Horse.

I was born in the Year of the Dragon.

Everything is ready for the Chinese New Year.

I can't wait for the morning.

It's the morning of Chinese New Year and we're wearing new clothes.

New clothes are meant to show a fresh start

and the colour red is really lucky.

My mum has a surprise for us.

They are red envelopes with money inside.

We need to go to school now. Come on.

We're going to Chinese school now.

My sister Katie is a teacher there.

Today we're making Chinese lanterns.

The lanterns are made from paper

and are to show us the brightness of spring.

-Into this hole.

-Can I try?

-Yeah, sure.

It's hard to make this.

I've done it!

Now we're learning to write Chinese good luck messages.

HE SPEAKS CANTONESE

My sign means "lots of luck".

I'm going to give my good luck message to my mum.

I think she will love it.

We're going home for our New Year meal.

-Wow, this smells really nice!

-Wow, this is great!

We have eight or nine dishes because they are lucky numbers.

-It's lobster - Abby's favourite!

-Yeah.

-Shall we start now?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

THEY SPEAK CANTONESE

Some of the food has special meanings.

The soup has round shapes in it

to remind us to be altogether.

We use two sticks called chopsticks to eat with.

-Favourite food.

-Happy New Year.

-ALL:

-Happy New Year!

In a few days, there will be celebrations in the street,

with a huge dragon parade.

It's going to be so much fun! Bye!

# It's great to celebrate. #

I think that's going to be an exciting celebration.

I'm not sure Sprocket liked the look of those dragons, though.

It's brilliant that each year is named after an animal.

I was born in the Year of the Pig. Oink! Oink!

And there's a great story

of how each year came to be named after an animal.

Would you like to hear it?

It was coming up to the New Year.

12 animals were arguing.

There was a rat, an ox,

a tiger, a sheep, a rabbit,

a dragon, a snake,

a dog, a horse, a rooster,

a monkey and a pig.

They thought the New Year should have a name.

They were arguing because each animal

wanted the year to be named after himself.

There was such a noise that they disturbed the Jade Emperor.

"Whatever is the matter with you animals?" Jade Emperor asked.

One by one, they explained their problem.

The Jade Emperor thought it over.

"I've got an idea," he said.

"Can you see that big river?

"Why not have a race across it?

"We can name this New Year after the winner of the race."

All the animals agreed that this was a good idea.

But each one secretly thought that they would be the winner.

They all hurried to the river and lined up for the race.

"Ready, steady, go!"

With a mighty splash, the animals leapt into the river

and started swimming as fast as they could towards the other side.

The rat wasn't the best swimmer,

but he was the cleverest animal.

He saw that the ox was going to win the race,

so swam as fast as he could and grabbed hold of the ox's tail.

He climbed up the tail and onto the ox's back.

Just before the ox reached the other side of the river,

the rat leapt over his head onto the bank.

"Hooray, I'm the winner!" he squeaked. "He-he-he!"

"Hard luck, Ox," laughed the Jade Emperor.

"You're very strong, but Rat was too clever for you this time.

"We will call this year the Year of the Rat.

"Ox, you were second, so next year will be the Year of the Ox."

One by one, the other animals finished the race.

"Well done," said the Jade Emperor,

"We will name a year after each of you

"in the same order that you finished the race."

# It's great to celebrate! #

He-he! I'm a cheek little rat and I won the race!

Oh, come on, Sprocket. I think she's just grumpy

because she wouldn't have been very good at that swimming race.

Shall we see the Chinese New Year celebrations?

Oh.

Hello. We're at Chinatown for the Chinese New Year street celebration.

A lot of Chinese people live here.

There are big markets here.

I want to try this.

Yes! Oh...

There are a lot of things to buy.

It's a puppet!

There's lots going on today.

We're going to Chinese school now.

We're watching my sister Katie doing a Chinese dance.

Now it's my turn.

We love dancing.

APPLAUSE

We had a brilliant time.

Do you remember I made a good luck message for my mum?

I'm going to give it to her now. I hope she likes it.

Here you go, Mummy. I made this for you.

Thank you, Abby. Happy New Year.

It's a good luck message.

Happy New Year.

It's time to go and watch the parade.

It's really busy and everyone's getting ready for the big parade.

The parade has started.

There are big pretend lions, unicorns and dragons.

They are like big puppets.

Can you see the people underneath them?

Look, there's the unicorn.

The flags are really colourful.

Look, there's the lion.

Everybody's waiting for the dragon to arrive.

Dragons are made-up creatures.

They are powerful and friendly

and they bring us good luck.

After the parade, we have firecrackers.

They bring good luck

and are meant to keep bad things away.

Sometimes they make me jump.

Firecrackers are very noisy and smoky!

we had a brilliant time.

Happy New Year! It's great to celebrate. Bye!

It's great to celebrate. Yes, it is!

That reminds me of my favourite song.

Sprocket, you stay here where it's not so noisy.

I'm just going outside for a party. Woo-hoo!

# It's great to celebrate It's great to celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate It's great to celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate It's great to celebrate

# We're so excited cos it's gonna be

# A party time for all our friends and family

# We're getting ready We'll have so much fun

# So come and join in, everyone

# Cos it's time for us to celebrate

# Now it's time for us to celebrate

# Cos today is such a special day

# And it's time for you and me to celebrate

# So jump to your feet and dance with us

# Clap your hands and cheer

# Cos it's time for us to celebrate

# Now it's time for us to celebrate

# Cos today is such a special day

# And it's time for you and me to celebrate

# It's time for us to celebrate

# And it's time for you and me

# To celebrate. #