Six things to know about Chinese New Year 2017

This year is all about patience and perseverance, which seems quite fitting.

Saturday marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year, China's biggest holiday, which is celebrated throughout the world.

Each year the Chinese calendar assigns an animal from a rotating zodiac of 12, chosen by significance in Asian culture. The 12 animals cycle through rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

As the celebrations begin with Dublin Chinese New Year Festival tomorrow, for those not so well-versed in the annual tradition, we've pulled together some fun facts about some of the traditions and superstitions about the Year of The Rooster. 

 1. 2017 is a Fire Rooster Year.

According to Chinese astrology, each year is associated with one of five elements as well as an animal, including gold (metal), wood, water, fire or Earth. The element, combined with the zodiac animal, set the astrology for the year.

This year is a fire year, and so those born in 2017 are Fire Roosters. The last Fire Rooster Year was 1957.

2. Famous Roosters include Beyoncé and Bob Marley.

Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears and Jennifer Aniston were also born during Rooster years. Famous Fire Roosters include Stephen Fry, Steve Buscemi and Hans Zimmer. 

3. The Year of the Rooster is a Yin year

Another aspect of the lunar year is whether it is a Yin or Yang year, and in 2017, we're in a Yin year.

Yin energy is often associated with water and metal, but when put together with fire it has the potential to be extremely destructive. Incidentally, Yin Fire can also indicate wars, terrorist attacks and economic corruption... 

4. There are 13 months in the year of the Rooster 2017!

To keep the Chinese lunar calendar within half a month of the traditional solar calendar, there will be a leap month in 2017. A second lunar month - the sixth month - starts July 23rd.

So there are 13 lunar months instead of 12, which means there are 384 days in Rooster year 2017.

5. People born in Rooster years are thought to be hardworking

People born during the Rooster’s reign (1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005 and 2017) are known for being observant, heroic and responsible.

They also apparently have a strong sense of punctuality, which makes sense when you consider roosters are known for their morning wake-up calls.

6. 1/5th of the world's population will celebrate the New Year 

China, Hong Kong and Macau, along with nine other Asian countries, have public holidays to mark this festival.