January 25, 2006

• BYE-BYE CHICKIE AND HELLO FIDO

  Here,
  the weather is still cold (minus twenty or so F) and I am still
  muddling through the current M.E./C.F. flareup.  Nothing
  interesting or notable about that.

  Off to the west and southwest from here, in a tradition over
  four-and-a-half millennia old, millions of people are headed
  for the warmth of their family homes or are preparing for the trip in
  celebration of the Lunar New Year, the second new moon after the Winter
  Solstice.  This time of year many of the
  largest Asian cities become virtually deserted as people return to the
  villages of their ancestral roots.  The Year of the Rooster is
  ending and the Year of the Dog is about to begin.  It is a time of
  homecoming, even more so
  than is our tradition at Thanksgiving.  The annual return of
  Chinese people to their homeland from new homes all over the world is
  the planet’s largest human migration.

  Gōng xǐ fā cái!  The traditional Chinese greeting of “Kung
  hei fat choi,” is commonly translated as a wish for a happy and
  prosperous new year.  In fact, it is literally congratulations on
  one’s prosperity and a subtle hint that since one is so prosperous one
  might hand over a traditional red “lai see” packet of money.  For
  kids, it is very much like Halloween trick-or-treat. 

  In Vietnam, the red envelopes of “lucky money” are called li xi.  In Japan, parents give their children otoshidama for oshogatsu (new year’s), a special “allowance”
  or gift of money in a pochibukuro, a special packet.  In the weeks leading up to the new year
  celebration, Japanese toy stores step up their advertising in order to
  attract as much of that otoshidama as they can.  The appropriate New Year
  greeting in Japan is, “Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu.”

  The
  New Year’s greeting in Korea, where the holiday is called “Seol” or
  “Seol-nal,” is “say hay boke-mahn he pah du say oh”, a wish for many
  blessings in the coming year.  On sut dal sum mum, New Year’s Eve
  in Korea, lights are left on in every room all night and nobody is
  supposed to sleep, in order to greet the new year alertly with eyes
  bright and wide open.  An old belief said that if one slept that
  night, his eyebrows would turn white.  The day before the new year
  begins is traditionally spent in a thorough housecleaning.

  
  The
  ritual cleansing and the wearing of new clothes is a widespread new year
  tradition in Asian cultures.  In Japan the cleaning and shopping
  may take up to two or three weeks before the holiday, and there are bonenkai,
  forget-the-year parties, to wipe out bad memories of the past
  year.  At bonenkai, the usually strict observances of social
  position are relaxed and it becomes acceptable to use more informal and
  “impolite” language.  At midnight, Buddhist temples ring their
  bells 108 times to call in the new year.  At this season, flanking the entrances of most buildings in Japan are kadomatsu (right),
  which always consist of pine
  boughs symbolizing endurance, a vigorous old age and success in
  adversity.  They also frequently include bamboo for uprightness (virtue,
  fidelity, constancy) and growth, and plum branches to symbolize spirit.

  During the weeklong celebrations of Tet, Vietnamese families erect a pole called Cay Neu
  (left) in front of their homes. Bamboo is often used as a Cay Neu. All
  the leaves are removed from the tree so that it can be wrapped or
  decorated by good luck red paper. Legends have it that the red color
  scares off evil spirits.  The sounds of gongs, bells, and
  firecrackers, and symbols such as bows and arrows also serve to drive
  out evil spirits.
  
  The correct new year greeting in Vietnam is Chúc Mừng Nǎm
  Mới,  Cung Chúc Tân Niên, or Cung Chúc Tân Xuân.  
  Choose one, and try to say it correctly, at your own risk.  Debts
  are paid off before the beginning of Tet, and an
  auspicous new start is represented by decorating with the hoa mai
  flower (right), a symbol of spring.  Families visit temples and
  pray for peace and prosperity.   Painstaking care is given to
  starting the year out right, since it is believed that the first day
  and the
  first week of the new year will determine the fortunes or misfortunes
  for the rest of the year.  People avoid showing anger or being
  rude, and
  refrain from visiting those who are ill or in mourning.  On the
  last day of Tet, the Cay Neu is taken down.

  
  The
  themes of out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new and out-with-the-bad,
  in-with-the-good pervade new year’s celebrations across cultures. 
  In Japan, the shimenawa, ropes made of rice straw, ward off evil spirits while the gohei, zigzag shapes made of cut and folded paper and hung from the shimenawa or from the sacred sakaki
  tree, invoke the presence of the gods.  I am reminded of the
  Native American tradition of smudging with a combination of pungent
  sage to repel evil and fragrant sweet grass to attract friendly spirits.
  
  In Korea, the tradition is to decorate the home with bok jo ri,
  a strainer or scoop used to separate rice grains from the chaff. 
  Its symbolic use is to scoop up happiness and good things and leave out
  the rest.

  Like most Americans, I grew up thinking of this as “Chinese” New
  Year.  I have a vivid childhood memory of  celebrations in
  the street, firecrackers, a wild cacophany of noise and bewildering
  melange of light and color.  There were many one- and two-man
  “lions” and a long, colorful glittering silk-and-sequin dragon
  dancing in the street.  It wove from side to side
  across the street for about a block.  There would have had to have
  been a hundred men or more dancing that dragon!   I might have
  been in San Francisco’s Chinatown at the time, or the parade could have been in San Jose; I do not recall which it was.  QuickTime movie of a parade dragon

  Vietnamese Tet celebrations often include dancing unicorns based
  upon the traditional lion or dragon dances of China.  Fireworks
  are a traditional part of the Chinese celebrations, and in Vietnam at
  the ceremony called Le Tru Tich at Giao Thua
  (the mid-night hour), to welcome Tet, the first hour of the first day of
  the new year.  Fireworks are not part of the usual celebration in
  Japan or Korea, where it is traditional to climb a mountain
  and watch the sunrise on New Years.

  Everyone becomes a year older
  on new year’s day, regardless of the date of their birthday.  
  Chinese astrology differs markedly from the Chaldean Zodiac with which
  most Westerners are familiar.  Combining the principles of both
  systems can yield a fuller understanding of a personal birth chart.
    The twelve
  animal signs
  rotate in a twelve-year cycle and combine with the five elements in a
  sixty-year great cycle.  Since everyone’s “birthday” is the same -
  New Year’s Day – everyone born in a particular year has the same
  sign.  Those born in 2006 will be Dogs of the Fire element.

  
  People born in the year of the
  dog (1910, 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994 or 2006), are said to be honest, sincere, and faithful, and possess a
  sense of duty and obligation.  They respect tradition and
  value honor, and enjoy helping people. The Dog is very righteous, and always is
  the first to speak out against injustice. These people are fastidious, diligent, and make a
  peaceful, harmonious atmosphere. They can also be eccentric,
  selfish, and stubborn and find it hard to make friends or fit into
  normal family life.

  People born in the year of the dog include:
  Mother Theresa, Viggo Mortensen, Steven Spielberg, Elvis Presley,
  Herbert Hoover, Winston Churchill, Uma Thurman, Donald Trump, Madonna,
  Andre Agassi, David Bowie, President George W. Bush (and his wife
  Laura), Michael Jackson and Bill Clinton.

  If you think this entry was too long, just thank me for not including
  all the info I found about traditional New Years foods from the various
  Asian cultures.

  DOG RACING UPDATE:

  After having been delayed for three days by cold weather, the Kuskokwim
  300 Sled Dog Race finally got underway.  It is over now. 
  Jeff King, the park ranger from Denali National Park, just barely beat
  Mitch Seavey for first place, by a mere 95 seconds.

  

  • 11:29 pm
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