February 12

2021 is the Year of the Ox.

This holiday celebrates the beginning of Spring and is popular in China, in the USA and other countries. It falls on a different date every year. San Francisco Chinatown has the largest celebration outside China.

People decorate their houses with red lanterns and flowers. Families meet and have a big dinner. Kids get red envelopes with money. There are street parades with floats and dragon dances. People wear colourful costumes. There’s a lot of music and dancing. Fireworks at midnight should drive away the evil.

The Chinese zodiac has 12 animals. 2021 is the Year of the Ox. Unscramble the names of the animals and match the texts to see which good qualities each animal has.

TAR                   artistic, clever

WOC                  reliable, patient

IGRET              adventurous, brave

ABBRTI            friendly, modest

RADGON         lucky, energetic

SKANE             intelligent, elegant

ORHSE             intelligent, strong

HEESP              loving, crafty

MOKNEY         clever, charming

TERROOS        honest, hard-working

GDO                  brave, helpful

PGI                   optimistic, helpful

Key: rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig