The year of the black water dragon -- the 4709th Lunar New Year is here!

Today is the first day of the 4709th lunar new year, the year of the dragon. Or more precisely, the year of the male water dragon. Every astrological sign is assigned a metal, which has a corresponding color associated with it. For more on what this year may bring to you, click here to read up on Chinese astrology.

Chinese new year is a 15 day celebration, beginning with family and a dinner that is supposed to be meatless (although how different folks interpret meatless varies widely--sometimes it's all vegan and sometimes it just means no red meat). Southern man and I will be dining at a local Chinese restaurant and sticking to veggies and seafood (fish is good luck--although perhaps not for the fish).

Dragons are a very powerful symbol--they are the only animals in Chinese astrology that are mythical/non realist--and inherently they signify all things celestial. So here's hoping that this year brings strength and good fortune to all of us.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Gung Hay Fat Choy--Happy New Year!


It's the lunar year 4706 (I got it wrong in the post I wrote a week ago), the year of the earth rat. We begin a brand new lunar cycle this year--for more on the lunar new year and traditions associated with it, click on this link:

And my last appreciation as we begin this new year is for my health. It is probably one of the biggest and yet the truest cliches: if you don't have your health, you don't have anything. I'm recuperating from a bout of stomach flu, and yesterday as the room was spinning around me, and I was in a fetal position on my bed, I realized how lucky I am. I know, a bizarre thing to think about when you are feeling like you've just done 10 rounds back to back in the tilt-o-whirl, but really, I knew that in about an hour, my partner was coming home to take care of me. And I had liquids and was staying hydrated, and I had access to clean water, and I didn't have to worry about taking time off from work the next day to rest. And if I didn't get better, I could afford to go to the doctor's the next day (by the way, for the record I am feeling much better). And this is what every single person on the planet should have access to--water, medicine, shelter, and the ability to stay healthy and to find help when you find yourself not healthy. So I appreciate my health, and when I'm not healthy, the things in my life that afford me the access to get healthy.

So here's to an auspicious new year--full of good health for us all--and for us all to try to work towards a place where everyone of us can live healthy lives.

Countdown to Chinese New Year

Today is February 1 and on February 7, 2008 it will be the beginning of the Lunar New Year 4705--the year of the rat. Growing up, Chinese New Year was the big holiday in my family--we celebrated (and still do) this day as a special holiday as well as my father's birthday (he celebrates according to the lunar calendar, so his birthday is always the day after the new year, which means it varies year to year when I send his gift).

There are various things you are supposed to do to prepare for the new year, most of them having to do with ways to ensure that the upcoming year will be prosperous. You aren't supposed to wash your hair on the first day of the new year or to use scissors (you don't want to wash away the luck from your hair or cut your luck short). You are also supposed to pay all debts (a near impossibility for those of us living in the U.S. in a credit society with home mortgages, car loans, and credit cards), and in general you are supposed to be positive and to see the upcoming year as auspicious.

So in honor of the upcoming lunar new year, I'm going to do a countdown of things I'm thankful for, as a way to pay the debt of gratitude to so many in my life, or just simply as a way to be positive. I think that so often there are so many things to be critical of, especially in a blog dedicated to issues of race in America. But for the next seven days, I'm dedicating this blog to positive things I see on our horizon, various plugs for books, films, or people, and generally observations of positive things in our world. I'm not trying to be a Pollyana or to ignore the MANY problems we face in the world, but since I've already said I'm a glass-half full kind of gal, I think being positive for a few days isn't a bad thing.

And my positive appreciation for today's post is that I get to celebrate Chinese New Year. I mean, this may seem like a silly thing to appreciate or show gratitude for, but I've often felt a lack of ritual in my life, especially since I'm agnostic. But every time Chinese New Year rolls around, I go into a certain ritual of cleaning my house, sticking to the superstitions I mentioned above, trying to pay as many of my debts as possible, keeping to the positive spirit of the new year, and, of course, eating yummy food (and there are so many great food rituals associated with the new year). The richness of my memories of Chinese New Year as a child and the richness of continuing this cultural celebration as an adult just makes me feel happy.