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CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL |
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The
aristocratic Chinese have hung these to bring
good fortune
and wealth. Each set of coins is tied together in
red ribbon, adding fire's yang potency, making this an extra
powerful Feng Shui tool for attracting money.
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In
China and other parts of "lunar" Asia, a New Year
meant new blessings. Feng
Shui principles were religiously practiced and implemented
to bring good fortune. This meant configuring the rooms correctly,
and hanging blessing
lanterns and placing wealth
candles in all the rights places. |
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If you're
not about to swing by Shanghai or Hong Kong in the new year,
celebrate Chinese New Year 4703 in Chinatown
near you. Call it Chinese Spring Festival, Dragon Festival or
Lantern Festival, they will all be happening. As the three most
venerable Chinatowns in the U.S., San
Francisco, New
York and Los
Angeles will throw the grandest festivals. Most major cities
in North America have their own Chinatowns. Check your local
listings. |
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Chinese New
Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the
New
Year
and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day
of the New
Year
is called the Lantern Festival, which
is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children
carrying lanterns
in a parade.
New Year's Day is celebrated as a family affair, a time
of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally
highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor
of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the
family ancestors.
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Based on the Lunar Calendar, Chinese New Year falls
on February 9, 2005.
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Celebrations,
today, are both literal and symbolic. Spring cleaning
is started about a month prior to the new year and must
be completed before the celebrations begin.
In order to rejoice at the New Year, people wished others
a happy new year and blessed heartily. Some stick calligraphies
full of joy on doors or hang blessing
lanterns, most of them were antithetical couplet,
phrase, individual character, such as: blessing, longevity,
luckiness, propitious New Year and so on.
Create your
own Lantern Festival! |
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To
Dos
It is customary to put your house in order before
Chinese New Year arrives. Considered a time
of renewal,
it is the time to sweep floors, repaint gates,
and pay off debts so that they don't carry bad
fortune into the New Year.
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Taboos
When choosing Chinese New Year gifts, one must
never choose a clock or cut flowers. The gift
of a clock symbolizes 'bidding the recipient
an eternal farewell', i.e., death. Meanwhile
cut flowers, especially white flowers, are generally
used in funerals and at cemeteries. Appropriate
flowers to give are peach blossoms (believed
to bring long life) and kumquat plants (whose
Chinese characters sound the same as the Chinese
words for gold and good luck).
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In
Asia, don't call it Chinese New Year. In Japan, Korea,
Vietnam and other "lunar" countries, it's
PC to call it the Lunar New Year. Let's just
say, if you refer to it as the Chinese New Year, not
only will you get a confused look, you probably won't
even get a response. It's been used and celebrated
as the Lunar New Year for centuries in their respective
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But
for history sakes,
the Chinese Lunar New Year is the longest
chronological record in history, dating from 2600BC,
when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle
of the zodiac. Like the Western calendar, The Chinese
Lunar Calendar is a yearly one, with the start of the
lunar year being based on the cycles of the moon. The
Chinese Lunar Calendar names each of the twelve
years after an animal.
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