Canthan New Year 2009

This year, the annual Canthan festival returns!

Honor the Ox
Put on your best red gear and prepare for a journey to Shing Jea Monastery, because it's time for the annual Canthan New Year's Festival. This year's beast of honor is the Celestial Ox, a divine celestial that will descend from the heavens to bestow good luck upon the populace for all of 2009—but only if the traditional New Year's feast is suitably delicious for such an illustrious guest.

In addition to the great feast, players can explore the Shing Jea Boardwalk, encounter colorful NPCs who offer a variety of festival-themed quests, and visit the wandering Fortune Teller for a glimpse of their future destinies. Anyone who likes a good game of chance will enjoy the return of the Rollerbeetle Races, and those who are feeling slightly more combative can visit the Dragon Arena all weekend long for some all-out dodgeball action.

Mark your calendars and help the Ox ring in the New Year, Canthan-style!

Festival Events
A feast, fireworks displays, dancing, fortunes, and a trip to the races...all this and more await you during the Canthan New Year's Festival. Here's what you can expect:
 * Satisfying the Celestial animal is a tall order, especially since every festival has a few unexpected problems for enterprising young adventurers to solve.
 * Want a preview of the coming year? The fortune teller can peer into your future and provide you with a very real, and legally binding, fortune. Whether it bodes well or ill, your destiny will follow you out into the world beyond Shing Jea.
 * The Shing Jea Boardwalk makes a special appearance during the festival, so you can play games to earn Festival Tickets and boost your luck—or play to lose, and work your way down a different life track.
 * For you racing fans, make your way to the Rollerbeetle Racing Arena, where you'll be outfitted with your very own rollerbeetle racer, complete with its own set of racing skills. Races roll all weekend long.
 * The Dragon Arena is now an official part of the festival, so head over for a brawling good time.
 * The Celestial Feast lets players participate in cooking competitions to help chefs from across Cantha prepare special dishes in honor of the Celestial Ox. It'll be bad luck if the chefs fail to please the Ox, but the chefs reward player participation with Lunar Tokens, and the Celestial Ox rewards everyone for each properly prepared dish.

Quests
Every festival brings with it a variety of problems that can only be solved by enterprising young adventurers willing to undertake a quest or two to ensure the festival runs smoothly. Supplies of everything from red dye (for Nian-scaring party attire) to fireworks (also used to frighten off the nian) will inevitably run low. And, speaking of the Nian, you never know when, or where, these New Year's festival hating creatures might attack. (NOTE: these quests will only be offered to characters that have reached level 5 or higher)

Sunqua Vale
 * Hapless Chong: Just My Luck

Shing Jea Monastery:
 * Coordinator Tahyaa:
 * Fire in the Sky
 * The Big Bang
 * Johai Sohn: The Knights Who Say Nian
 * Hai Len: Hopeless Romantic

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

Schedule
The 2009 Canthan New Year's Festival began at Noon Pacific (-8 GMT) on Friday January 30th 2009, ran all weekend and ended at Noon Pacific (-8 GMT) on Monday February 2nd 2009. On Sunday February 1st 2009 the Celestial Ox came down from the sky every three hours to sample Canthan delicacies in Shing Jea Monastery. Canthans living abroad weren't left out: Lion's Arch and Kamadan also hosted smaller celebrations, complete with traditional New Year's decorations.

Finale
Several Chefs stand in Shing Jea Monastery. They will collect specific ingredients during the finale. For each ingredient turned in, you will receive a Lunar Token from that chef. If no dishes are prepared successfully, everyone in the district will be temporarily transformed by the Ox Form disguise.

Finale Rewards
Below is a chart describing the amount of items the player receives based on how many successful dishes were presented to the Celestial Ox: 1 If no successful dishes were created, players may be temporarily turned into Oxen.

Special Miniature
In addition to the festival rewards, there is a special miniature available at this year's festival. Watch those Lunar Fortunes closely—your future just might include a Miniature Celestial Ox.

Decorated Towns

 * Shing Jea Monastery
 * Lion's Arch
 * Kamadan

Further Information:

 * Official GuildWars.com entry