New year, new look

The Tiger is waning and the Year of the Rabbit is rising! One of the benefits of growing up Chinese is celebrating New Year's twice, sometimes even in the same month! For those of you in the dark (like I was until my Mom informed me), Chinese New Year occurs on February 3, 2011 this year..that means it's only 8 days away!

Basic Facts
In 2010, we welcomed the Year of the Tiger (and year 4707 in the Chinese Lunar calendar) on February 14
In 2011, we will welcome the Year of the Rabbit (and year 4708) on February 3 (with CNY's eve on February 2)

While the Chinese use the Gregorian calendar for day to day activities, we use the Lunar calendar to mark important traditional holidays such as Chinese New Year (also known as the Spring Festival, or 春節) and the Autumnal Festival. Ever since I can remember, my grandmother has used a daily Lunar calendar instead of a monthly Gregorian calendar, tearing off a page to mark each day's passing into the new one. I still have a very vivid "sound memory" of hearing her tear a page before she started her daily exercise and morning meditation.

My grandmother is a Tiger and me, I'm a Rabbit. There are 12 animals in the Zodiac, so every 12 years, you enter into your Zodiac sign. I'm giving away my age here but the last time it was the year of the Rabbit I was a mere 24 years old (in the Gregorian calendar)! My dear grandmother is 97 (about to turn 98 this March) and is prone to asking me how old I am every single time I talk to her. Instead of stating my birth year, I often begin with "So I was born in the year of the Rabbit....". And she continues "Oh, so that must make you X age..but don't forget, you always add 1 to that..which brings you to X+1 years".

Which brings me to a disadvantage of being Chinese - you're always 1 year older than you think! For the Chinese, you're already almost 1 years old when you're born. So on your first birthday you're actually two years old. SIDE NOTE: the Chinese like to be as confusing as the French (see my note below about how to say "1st floor" in French).

Anyways, let's get back to the pros of Chinese New Year: dragon dances, firecrackers, eating dinner on CNY's eve with my family, seeing the color red everywhere, especially red envelopes! As a kid, I looked forward to CNY as much as I looked forward to Christmas and my birthday. I remember preparing for CNY as much as a month in advance..buying food, cleaning the entire house from top to bottom, visiting friends and family, eating special foods (more on that in an upcoming blog). And of course, receiving hong bao, or red envelopes full of lucky money from my Mom, relatives, and close family friends.

As we've grown up, moved out and gotten jobs, we still get red envelopes but they are no longer stuffed! However, it is still nice to receive it symbolically. Back in the day I remember my family giving me big red envelopes..and every year it seemed there was more and more money in it. One year, I got $160 just in one envelope! You'd think I was able to blow it on candy and stickers (my childhood obsession) but no, most of the money was quickly stashed away for "My College Education Fund." In retrospect, it was probably a very very good idea to not let me manage the red envelope money myself until I was older. It was a good lesson in living within my means (I somehow still managed to have a rocking sticker collection) and saving for more important things later in life.

Here in France, I will be celebrating CNY with R and possibly in Lyon which has the 2nd largest Chinese population in France after Paris.

In preparation for CNY, I started spring cleaning today...so we can start the Year of the Rabbit with a fresh slate.

R and I vacuumed what the Americans call the first floor of the house. SIDE NOTE: first floor in French = rez-de-chaussée; second floor = 1er étage. Don't ask me why. This just is. There were a lot of spider webs...and a few spiders busy spinning webs. We got rid of the webs but left the spiders who do a great job of eating the other little critters who may crawl inside seeking warmth. I love our yellow Dyson. It has the best suck-ability of any vacuum I've ever used. 

I decided to give the blog a small makeover...and add some life and color to it. In the middle of the winter, I always like to add some color. Speaking of color, today I returned to the yarn store to get more of the same Plassard yarn I got on Saturday afternoon. They were sold out of 1 of the colors but still had remaining stock for the others!

This afternoon I started working on a new scarf. My sister's mother-in-law gave me 4 beautiful skeins of Noro yarn, a set of bamboo needles, and a pattern called "curly whirly". Not only is this Japanese yarn gorgeous with bits of red (a lucky Chinese color), pink, purple, and green, but it is luxuriously textured with mohair, silk, and lambswool.

Who else celebrates Chinese New Year's? And what will you do for CNY?