Canthan New Year

Canthan New Year is the first day of the Canthan Calendar, when the people of Cantha prepare and partake in a great feast to honor the particular celestial animal who will watch over them during the coming year. According to tradition, if the celestial animal is satisfied with the meal, it will bestow good luck upon the populace for the coming year.

During the Canthan New Year, many activities take place in and around Shing Jea Monastery.

Redecorated towns

 * Lion's Arch
 * Shing Jea Monastery
 * Kamadan, Jewel of Istan

Event-specific locations

 * Rollerbeetle Racing (location)
 * Rollerbeetle Racing (arena)
 * Dragon Arena

Quests
(You must be Level 5 or higher to participate in the quests)

Sunqua Vale
 * Hapless Chong: Just My Luck

Shing Jea Monastery:

Plains of Jarin: or
 * Elder Nofuun: Douse Your Enthusiasm
 * Fehj: A Burning Desire

NPCs
For a listing, see: Category:Canthan New Year NPCs.

Lunar Fortune Giver
Location: Shing Jea Monastery Collecting: 3 Lunar Tokens Item: Lunar Fortune

Lunar Gift Keeper
Location: Shing Jea Monastery, Lion's Arch, Kamadan, Jewel of Istan Collecting: 5 Lunar Tokens Item: Red Gift Bag

Rollerbeetle Racing
Accessed by talking to the Rollerbeetle Trainer in Lion's Arch, Shing Jea Monastery, Kamadan, and the Great Temple of Balthazar.

Cost: Free

Prizes
 * First place: 7 Lunar Tokens, 7 Gamer Points, and 50 Balthazar Faction. First place also receives +50 Balthazar Faction for a "Flawless Victory" and 50 Balthazar Faction for every 5 consecutive wins.
 * Second place: 5 Lunar Tokens and 5 Gamer Points.
 * Third place: 3 Lunar Tokens and 3 Gamer Points.
 * Fourth place: 2 Lunar Tokens and 2 Gamer Points.
 * Everyone else: 1 Lunar Token and 1 Gamer Point if they reach the end of the track within 30 seconds of 1st Place.

At the end of the Canthan New Year event, the players with the top 100 scores receive a miniature Greased Lightning.

Rock, Paper, Scissors
Only available in Lion's Arch from Lucky Hochei. A simple game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Cost: 1 Lunar Token

Prizes
 * Win: 1 Lunar Fortune, 1 Sugary Blue Drink.
 * Tie: 1 Lunar Token.
 * Lose: knocked down.

Items

 * Sugary Blue Drink: Just the thing when you need a quick boost of energy in town.
 * Champagne Poppers: The classic party favor used to ring in the New Year in style.
 * Bottle Rockets: A single-shot firework. Please point away from body.
 * Sparklers: Shoots sparks around your body. Be careful not to stand near flammable objects.
 * Red Gift Bag: Surprises come wrapped in red during the New Year's festival. Open for a festival gift or, possibly, a small fortune.
 * Lunar Fortune: Will you have good luck or bad luck this year? Only your lunar fortune can tell you.
 * Lunar Token: Collect these tokens throughout the festival and trade them in for prizes or to play Rock, Paper, Scissors.
 * Red Bean Cake: Sugar Rush
 * Lion Mask: Every year it is automatically added to characters' inventories that are in Shing Jea Monastery at the end of the finales.

The Celestial Feast
The Celestial Feast is the finale of Canthan New Year, heralding the Celestial Animal's arrival in Shing Jea Monastery. 8 minutes before the animal arrives, the imperial chefs begin preparing their dishes for the feast, calling out for players to provide the specific ingredients they require. When all 5 dishes are ready, or when the timer expires, the Celestial Animal will appear and partake of the dishes that have been prepared.

All players in a district are given rewards depending on how many dishes were completed in that district. If no dishes are completed, the Celestial Animal will express its displeasure by transforming everyone in the district into the current year's animal.


 * 1) Added in 2010.
 * 2) Added in 2008.

Ingredients
To create dishes to please the great celestial, the Imperial Chefs will be looking for these ingredients:


 * 1) Imperial Chef Yan (Appetizer)
 * 2) * Iridescent Griffon Wings
 * 3) * Tangled Seeds
 * 4) * Fiery Crests
 * 5) * Smoking Remains
 * 6) Imperial Chef Reun (Salad)
 * 7) * Alpine Seeds
 * 8) * Guardian Moss
 * 9) * Celestial Essences
 * 10) * Dragon Roots
 * 11) Imperial Chef Jiong (Soup)
 * 12) * Archaic Kappa Shells
 * 13) * Mantis Pincers
 * 14) * Kraken Eyes
 * 15) * Naga Hides
 * 16) Imperial Chef Chen (Main Course)
 * 17) * Igneous Spider Legs
 * 18) * Ebon Spider Legs
 * 19) * Bonesnap Shells
 * 20) * Azure Crests
 * 21) * Unctuous Remains
 * 22) Imperial Chef Tian (Dessert)
 * 23) * Truffles
 * 24) * Ebon Spider Webs
 * 25) * Half-Eaten Blobs
 * 26) * Azure Remains
 * 27) * Icy Lodestones

NOTE: You will receive 1 Lunar Token for each ingredient that you give to a chef when they ask for it. You can give the same ingredient for additional Lunar Tokens repeatedly until the chef asks for the next ingredient. Once a chef moves on to the next ingredient you can no longer give the previous ingredient. Likewise you can not give an ingredient that has not yet been requested. To complete all 5 dishes, all ingredients above must be provided. However, it is not necessary that all ingredients come from one person; different ingredients can be provided by different people.

Schedule
Schedule of (2011) Friday, February 3rd, Noon PST (20:00 GMT): Start of the event & Festival NPC's arrive. Sunday, February 6th, 12:01 AM PST (08:01 GMT): first appearance of the Celestial Rabbit Monday, February 7th, 12:01 AM PST (08:01 GMT): last appearance of the Celestial Rabbit

Monday, February 7th, Noon PST (20:00 GMT): Announced end of the festival.

Trivia

 * Canthan New Year is heavily inspired by the Chinese New Year. The Canthan New Year event is held on the weekend closest to the date of Chinese New Year, and the Celestial Animals match the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

Official site

 * Canthan New Year's Festival 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
 * Screenshots (2007).

Fansites

 * Complete Guide to the 2008 Canthan New Year Event
 * Guild Wars Guru forum - Developer Roundtable, 26 January 2007 (includes brief description of Canthan New Year)
 * GWVault - Cantha finally gets some love (Canthan New Year, focused on Rollerbeetle Race)
 * Das Cantha Neujahrsevent (in German)
 * Guild Wars Hispano forum thread about Rollerbeetle Race (in Spanish)
 * Guild Wars Poland forum thread about Canthan New Year and Rollerbeetle Race (in Polish)

Neujahrsfest Festival de Año Nuevo en Cantha