Happy Lunar New Year!
Feb 7th, 2008 by April
Today is the Lunar New Year, more commonly known as Chinese New Year, which actually lasts for more than two weeks. Wikipedia divulges some interesting Chinese traditions for this holiday:
Day 1 - “A time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.”
Day 2 - Married women visit their birth parents, and “Chinese pray to their ancestors as well as to all the gods.”
Day 7 is “the common man’s birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older.”
On Day 15, “candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home.”
This year is the Year of the Rat, an animal that “was welcomed in ancient times as a protector and bringer of material prosperity.” The Rat is linked with positive things like wealth, charm, and order, and negative things like pestilence, death and aggression.
It is interesting to consider other cultural and religious beliefs and think about how people in such traditions view the world. Even those of us who are not Chinese can gain insight from the ideas of visiting family, respecting elders and keeping spirituality in mind.
*Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.