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Thousands Celebrated New Chinese Year In San Francisco

Many people many not know it, but the Chinese people had a really good reason to celebrate yesterday, as it was the beginning of their new year. According to the Chinese tradition, each year is symbolized by a different animal, including rats, tigers, snakes, horses, monkeys, dogs and others. This year, for example, is The Year of The Pig. The Chinese New Year dates are determined by the lunisolar Chinese calendar, and a the year?s celebrations can only start on the first day containing a full moon. Even though the real big celebrations take place in China itself, thousands of people celebrated yesterday the festivity in the streets of San Francisco.
Taking advantage of the nice, and dry, weather, thousands of local, along with many tourists, watched the colorful parade, which began exactly at 5:30pm. An amazing display of firecrackers followed, along with five officers of the San Francisco Police Department`s mounted unit, carrying flags of the United States, California and San Francisco. They were later followed by marching bands from the city`s Galileo, Washington and Balboa high schools, which were enthusiastically welcomed by the crowds.

Astrologers around the world are still arguing whether this year will be just an ordinary year, or a ?Golden Pig? year, who?s said to bring better-than-usual odds of good health and other prospects for any child born before 2008. One way or another, we hope it will be a great year for everyone, and we?ll hopefully meet again in exactly a year from now, although that time we will be entering a different animal?s year ? the rat.