[Jackie07]

http://www.foodmuseum.com/chinesenew.html

Yes, it is the Year of the Tiger. There are twelve animals used to denote the years [Mouse, ox, tiger, rabit, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig.] Chinese used to use 5 cycles as a group - 60 years was considered the average age of an 'old' person. Traditionally it is the first 'big birthday' celebration and a 'banquet' is in order.

Usually when strangers are introduced to each other, very seldom would anyone ask directly about another's exact age. [I know, in the western culture, 'age' should never be the subject in a conversation anywhere. But Chinese are 'different'... ]Instead, people would tactfully inquire each other's Chinese Zodiac - which animal do you 'belong to'. It's a good ice breaker because everyone knows someone else who belongs to the same zodiac. Then they can discuss about the personality traits and whether or not the zodiac is a good prediction...

Of course, according to the description of each zodiac, everyone is bright, smart, prosperous, ambitious... [kind of like the description about people in Lake Wobegon where 'all the children are smart and all the women are good-looking...' ]

The Year of Tiger begins on Valentine's Day this year. [my original post confused the date with last year's calendar - has to be careful about information retrieved from the Web] [Chinese used a 'lunar calendar' (also called 'Farmer's Calendar' for planting and harvesting schedules) Instead of 30 and 31 days each month, the months in the Lunar Calendar are 29 and 30 days each month. Instead of having an extra day every 4 years for leap year, the Chinese put an extra month now and then (7 times every 19 years) It follows the exact movement of the moon (thus 'Lunar Calendar). One can just look up the moon and figure out which day of the month it is. 'Full moon' is the 15th day of each month. Many festivals fall on the days of full moon. For example, the 'Lantern Festival' is the 15th day (and the last day) of the New Year celebration. The 'Moon Festival' is the 15th day of the 8th month. The 'Mid Festival' which honors the dead is the 15th day of the 7th month.

My birthday was around the Chinese New Year. So my parents always 'double' the amount of money they put into the 'red envelope' they gave me. Close friends (all of my parents' relatives had been separated from them because of the Nationalist-Communists conflict. My parents and my siblings did not get to visit 'home' until the mid 90's) of my parents who visited during the Festival always give me a red envelope - the advantage of being the youngest child. As a 'good' child, I always gave most of the money back to them to 'deposit' in my Mother's 'invisible' bank. [Have to also consider that they would need to give 'red envelope' to the guest's children as well.]

We had a 'Jiao-tze Hui' (dumpling-[making] party) Saturday noon at one of the local church building. Traditional festivals are a good opportunity to reach out to oversea Chinese students and for the locals to gather together (We've got several Bapitist, Lutherine, Presbyterian, and Catholic families in town.)

[Am watching the Chinese figure skating in the Winter Olympic program on NBC. So smooth, so beautiful...]