Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Time to bring out a few goodies for Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival. I keep to a very few traditions such as the twin "fortune" characters and Lai See, monetary gifts given in red envelopes. Red is an important colour signifying good fortune and happiness.

There are special red envelopes for specific occasions such as birthdays and weddings but many are generic. One must enclose money in an even number, eight being especially lucky but never, ever f-o-u-r, which sounds like the Chinese word for d-e-a-t-h. One must also not speak not so nice words during Chinese New Year celebrations, scold children (and presumably, husbands). As a general rule, lai see are given to younger unmarried family members.

Candy is important to start the new year off with a sweet taste in one's mouth. This year I have not been able to shop in Chinatown for a better selection but these will do: hard candy in red wrappers, chewy mango gummies, and lovely ginger candies.

In my not-entirely-Chinese corner are one large and two small gold ingots representing good fortune and wealth. There is also a small gold Maneki Neko (lucky) cat with its right paw raised, beckoning rather than waving as it is interpreted according to Western customs. A raised left paw is commonly seen in shops where it attracts customers (money). Sometimes the paw is battery operated to move the paw back and forth. Other cats have two raised paws.

I also have several strings of decorative firecrackers. Some believe that as the culture was based in agriculture, the noise of the firecrackers woke the dragon which then flew across the sky bringing the spring rains. The other theory is that the noise scared away the evil spirits and ny misfortune, making a fresh start for the New Year.

In any case, the main tradition I enjoy is that the food--and plenty of it--be prepared in advance so there is no work done in the first part of the New Year. My understanding is that this allows time for celebration rather than work as well as avoidance of any mishaps in the kitchen, setting a poor tone for the remainder of the year. And no cutting with knives or scissors, no haircuts or manicures or pedicures either! Cutting symbolizes severing relationships.

We also try to not interrupt the meal--more symbolism. The food is simple and very--you guessed it--symbolic. As there are only two of us, I will make fewer dishes, but I will be cooking all day on New Year's Eve. Noodles and fish are a must. Noodles should be long and uncut and you mustn't cut or bite them; slurping is good! They represent long life so you wouldn't want to cut them short. The Chinese word for fish sounds like the word for "profit" but you must never consume all of the fish. This represents abundance for the new year, that you will have more than you need.

Each day of the (traditionally two-week) long celebration is devoted to specific activities, mostly related to visiting certain family members. Normaly everyone goes home for Chinese New Year; it is the reason for the largest migration on the planet! Sadly, I will not be with my family members but between the telephone and internet we can all be in touch.

Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Purging, The Hypocrite & Purging the Hypocrite

We are still dealing with computer problems. The iMac repair will have to wait but it will soon be time for our next trip to the city. The Dell desktop is up and running faster than ever on Windows 7 and I'm transferring back data saved to the Acer netbook and backing it all up. Again. The Dell laptop could not connect to the internet wirelessly. The obvious solution was a hard connection. The open plan of the house meant I had to drill a hole through the loft floor in a difficult to reach location in my studio. Will I ever get to play in my studio again!?

Squeezing into the storage area under the eaves of the loft was less awkward than emptying it. Only a small part of my craft stash had been disemboweled yet the sight of so many boxes, bags and old suitcases spilling into my already messy studio was overwhelming. Surveying the spewed collection of my children's "special" clothes and toys, supplies for sewing, knitting, painting and other crafts looked filled me with shame. It's possible that I blushed.

Just the other day I scolded my mother for hoarding so much junk in her garage.

Will I ever use any of those Fisher Price toys and that Brio wooden train set for my grandchildren? Will I ever have grandchildren? (No pressure, kids.) Just how special can old clothes be? Exactly when will I have time to make all those projects?

In a previous post I lied about not making claimed to not make New Year's Resolutions but I realized that I do--just not on January 1st.

Every year after the Christmas decorations are put away I feel it's time to clean and organize the house before Chinese New Year, one of the old traditions. I've been mocked for being superstitious--by people who do spring cleaning. Chinese New Year is after all the Spring Festival.

I follow very few traditions, just the ones I like, but I use the house cleaning ritual as a motivational tool, to trick myself into setting a goal. I love it when my house is clean, tidy and organized but it never lasts, it is not natural for me. I am so easily distracted and am more of a starter than a finisher. ;-)

A challenge is always enjoyable and invigorating. Let's see what I can accomplish by February 3rd, the start of the Year of the Metal Rabbit.

The best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice we give to others. ~Author Unknown~

Another Non-Resolution for the New Year

Georgia Nicols is one of Canada's most popular astrologers. She was on the morning news today offering predictions for 2011. I can't remember the last time I checked my horoscope. Wait, I know, I check it at the start of the New Year and again at Chinese New Year when I read up on the Chinese horosope. It always amazes me that so much fits for the people I know, in particular for a special Libran in my life--wow!

Of most interest to me now is health which looks good for the coming year. Health has been a problem and therefore a priority for some time but I have felt like I'm taking those proverbial two steps forward and at least one step back. For some reason every time I've even thought about possibly starting a new excerise program I have come down with a cold. Hoping for different results I began a simple exercise program during a cold a couple of months ago. So far, so good. It's a very short and simple program fine-tuned by my son when he was home for Christmas.

He is a certified CrossFit coach and my workout is loosely based on those principles. That is not to say I will be setting a goal of participating in the insanity known as the CrossFit Games. No way. Still, I am taking baby steps back to wellness, fitness and feeling strong--I really miss that. It's great to have an encouraging non-critical coach regardless of my feeble skills and slow progress. It's wonderfully rewarding to come full circle. He said that I was the one who inspired him to be physically fit and now he's teaching me.