An Early Happy Feb...
... because Chinese New Year is coming tomorrow... early this year! I love that the Lunar New Year holiday honours and celebrates the start of Spring! This New Moon appears tomorrow and the traditional annual 7-day observance serves as rest time before the approaching farm season... sort of an official Spring Fever time!Thx to Canada Post yet again for continuing their series of seasonal stamps.
This year is full of expectation. The rooster is proud, confident, hardworking and punctual. Fire by its very nature is the element associated with brilliance, warmth, passion, spark. So a brilliant and enthusiastic rooster, combined with the warm and bright characteristics of fire, heralds an enterprising and fruitful year... a year of results and achievements. This year we can fulfill all of our dreams.
Chinese tradition dictates a whole list of DOs and DON'Ts for best results:
- Visit with family and friends to wish them good fortune and prosperity.
- Spend the rest of today (Friday) cleaning your house but avoid cleaning for the next 3 days to avoid sweeping away good fortune.
- Red symbolizes vitality of life and happiness while gold symbolizes wealth and prosperity. Dress—in new clothes—and decorate accordingly! Give gifts of money in red envelopes.
- Tonight (Friday) stay up until midnight and open your doors and windows to send out the old year and welcome the new.
- Ring a bell at midnight to bring good fortune for the whole year.
- Then tomorrow, be sure to feast—but don't nap, as naps can encourage laziness for the rest of your year.
- Keep children happy and joyous, as crying might discourage good luck.
- Use lots of positive words all day to set the focus for the new year.
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course:
