Welcome all, youngsters and hipsters, English illiterate, and motivated procrastinators!
(Advice for the elderly: click on a picture to make it bigger. Link to my journal website: www.teilointheworld.blogspot.com)
The Hebrew, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Burmese, the Tibetan, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Vietnamese, the Mongolian, and the Korean all celebrate their new year based on the lunisolar calendar. The lunisolar calendar is based on the moon phase and the time of the solar year and, after looking at the mathematical calculations, is quite complicated (source Wikipedia).
That gives a total of 2.8 billion people that base their life on the lunar calendar. That is is 41% of the world population! (Calculations done based on information from WolframAlpha. Counting of individuals twice due to population overlap cannot be excluded).
This year, the Lunar New Year (also called Chinese New Year) falls on February 10th and will be the official start of the year of the Water Snake.
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"Welcome to Year of the Water Snake! Snake is the Yin to last year's Dragon Yang. That said, Snake does not settle for mediocrity, either. We're likely to see significant developments in the area of science and technology this year. Research and development are apt to flourish. This is a Water year as well, the element most closely associated with education and research, making 2013 a very special year for scientists and scholars. Snake is a great sign, a positive one, with energy that can help us face all of the challenges ahead of us. Let's take advantage of this vibrant influence to improve our lives -- and our world!" - Bill Hajdu
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And it just so happens that I am currently living in the ethnically Chinese country called Singapore. As this is the first culture that I have noticed in Singapore, I am paying special attention to the proceedings and am happy to report of my sightings.
First of all, it is important that I convey the Chinese New Year feeling. Different from the Western world, the people look toward the new year as a chance to increase their profits. Instead of wishing someone a "Happy New Year", everyone wishes you a "Prosperous New Year". This is well received by various companies seeking to boost sales, including McDonald's current promotional "Prosperity Burger", "Double Prosperity Burger", "Prosperity Drink", and "Prosperity Fries".
Numerous ancient Chinese traditions surface during the New Year, including a requirement to wear brand new clothes by February 10th, going to watch the dragon dances, listening to strange traditional music, and carrying around two oranges. The orange tradition is actually very fascinating. Since New Year Festivities last for over a week, every time you go to a New Year's party or gathering, the unmarried people bring two oranges and get to exchange the oranges with married people for envelopes full of money (8-10 dollar each). It does not matter whether these people are related, friends, or complete strangers. I myself am invited to join one of the festivities by a Chinese person I met at University and have been instructed to bring two oranges. o_O
To give you an even better feeling for Chinese New Year, I present you two Traditional Chinese Videos. One is the Dragon dance (I made this video in Singapore) and the other is the strange traditional music (I made this one in Malaysia). Can you guess which one is the Dragon dance?
These videos can be viewed in large either by clicking on the square at the bottom right of each video or by clicking on these links: Video 1 and Video 2.
Oh, and people, you must ALWAYS watch out for FALLING COCONUTS!!
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