February 3 begins the Chinese New Year (which continues until Lantern Festival, February 18). 
This is the year of the Rabbit, or Hare (& if you want to be more specific the element included is metal). I would say that I am a Hare, because it’s much more masculine than saying I’m a rabbit, or heaven forbid, a bunny. At least that is the way a Chinese man would feel. That’s good enough for me.
When I first encountered Chinese New Year, I thought that it was both exciting and relaxing, and fascinating. It seems to be a combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas. There is vacation time, and lots of: food, family, and gift giving – Red Envelopes (Hong Bao).
When you take a step back and really look and reflect on Chinese New Year, it has many uncanny similarities to the Jewish Passover. Here is a great blog by a Chinese Christian named Israel Lee that gives a good overview of six of those similarities: Part 1, Part 2.
Wikipedia does a good over view of the holiday and traditions, but this article at China.org gives a great conglomeration of the various stories of origin into one, and at E-How.com they give a good explanation of how to understand many of the things that you will see and experience during Chinese New Year (a.k.a. Spring Festival).
So, I encourage you, to at least go to a Chinese restaurant during
the next two weeks, but even moreso to go to a Chinese cultural event or
Spring Festival event. This is THE BIGGEST HOLIDAY in Chinese culture.
Here are two common greetings during Chinese New Year:
新年快樂 (Pinyin- /xīn nián kuài lè/; Toby’s pronunciation- /sheen knee-en kwhy leh/). This means, “Happy New Year” (literally- new year happy).
恭喜發財 (Pinyin- /gōng xǐ fā cái;/; Toby’s pronunciation- /gong she fa tsai/). This means, “Congratulations and be prosperous” (literally- congratulations, prosperity).
If you can begin to understand Chinese New Year (and all its nuances), you are that much closer to understanding the Chinese.
Cup Overflowing 