Happy Spring Festival, Lunar New Year and Chinese New Year!

If your resolutions already crashed, it may be your second chance!  Happy Chinese New Year, Spring Festival and Lunar New Year 2019!    

Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring festival, is celebrated by more the 20% of the world.  In China, it may be still winter-ish, but this holiday marks the end of the coldest days and is a time to welcome spring, new beginnings and fresh starts.  Lunar New Year is celebrated by countries such as Vietnam, North Korea and South Korea.  Since the Spring Festival follows the Lunar Calendar, it is intertwined.

There is not an exact date every year for the new year, but is ranges from January 21 to February 2019.  This year, Spring Festival falls on February 5th.  China has officially moved to the Gregorian calendar like the rest of the world, but the lunar calendar is still vital.  Some celebrate their birthdays based on the lunar calendar.

Originally the Spring Festival was a ceremonial day to pray to the gods and ancestors for a good planting and harvest season, though today china is not as agrarian was it was.

Did you know…

The most fireworks are set off in the world Chinese New years Eve.  According to one legend, a boy brave enough to fight off Nian the monster used firecrackers.  The next day all those hiding from the monster came out and celebrated their survival by setting off more firecrackers and the tradition was born.  Firecracker set off Chinese New Years Eve and at midnight are supposed to scare off monster and bad luck.

The Spring Festival is 15 days, plus New Year’s Eve but is combined with Lunar celebration making it around 40 days of celebrations, the longest Chinese holiday. 

In modern China, most children work in the cities while elderly parents remain in the rural villages.  The most important part of the New Year’s festivities is reunion with family.  The exodus to rural villages caused  by this reunion is called the Spring Migration.

No throwing out garbage, no cleaning of home or self, no cutting of anything, or risk throwing out or cutting off good luck for the year. 

Celebrating your own fresh Start:

Make your own celebration by reaching out to your family or loved ones. 

Now is a great time to revisit your 2019 resolutions or goals and work toward them again. You know the ones, lose weight or debt and become a marathon runner.  Consider whether revamping your goals to smaller steps would make you stick better.

Lose weight could be better diet and exercise.  Cooking at home more, eating more veggies and less junk.  Start parking further away from stores and work so you get a brief walk in.  Walk the dog more.   Little steps add up.

Getting rid of all debt could be modified to mean better budgeting in 2019.  Make a monthly budget.  Write down your goal and then figure out each week and each month how you can work toward that goal.

No matter what, congratulations on your fresh start in the new year of 2019!