Kung Hei Fat Choi

Thursday, Feb 7th, is Chinese New Year. EJ will be taking hongbao (red envelopes) to school tomorrow to pass out to her classmates. They're filled with some trinkets - fake Chinese coins, pencils, rubber and beaded bracelets, and temporary tattoos with Chinese characters. I wrote up a description of the holiday for the teacher to read to the kids. Here it is, if you're interested in learning about the holiday:

Last year, on EJ’s 8th birthday, we traveled to China to meet her new sister, Sophie LiLei. While traveling in China, we enjoyed learning about its history, food, and customs.

Today, February 7th, is the start of Chinese New Year in 2008. Chinese New Year, sometimes called Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is as important as the Christmas holiday in the United States. The date for the Chinese New Year celebration changes each year--it begins on the day of a new moon. The celebration lasts 14 days. The last day of the celebration is called the Lantern Festival, which occurs around the time of the full moon.

In China, many people travel to visit their families, usually their parents or grandparents, over this holiday. Respecting one’s elders is a very important aspect of Chinese culture. Usually, family members share a large meal. Fish is often served to symbolize abundance, or having extra, for the coming year. Dumplings are also eaten to symbolize wealth. In the evening, fireworks scare away bad spirits.

Often, people wear new clothing to signify the new year. Red decorations, usually with gold trim, symbolize good luck. Many decorations include a diamond-shaped pattern with the Chinese character for Fu, or luck, in the diamond. These decorations hang around the house and on doors. The Chinese Fu character is usually hung upside down, since the Chinese word for “upside down” sounds the same as another Chinese word that means “arrive”, meaning that anticipate the arrival of luck, happiness, and prosperity.

Another tradition in China is cleaning your house from top to bottom in the days before the celebration to sweep away the bad luck. It is also important to have your life “in order”, meaning you should resolve your disagreements and disputes with others.

Our family plans to celebrate Chinese New Year by eating Chinese food for dinner. Maybe we’ll use the pretty porcelain chopsticks we bought while on our trip! We also bought a new Chinese New Year decoration for our house.

This weekend, we will attend a very large party with all the families from our adoption agency. Nearly 2000 people will be there! We attended the party two years ago when we first started waiting for Sophie to join our family. In addition to delicious Chinese food, there will be a lot of musical and dance performances, including a lion and dragon dance to close the party. It is believed that the loud beats of the drum and the deafening sounds of the cymbals together with the face of the dragon or lion dancing aggressively can evict bad or evil spirits.

Each Chinese year is associated with one of 12 animals from the Chinese zodiac. Each animal has its own characteristics. This year will be the Year of the Rat. Some of your zodiac signs might be:

· 1997 (Ox): Dependable, calm patient, hardworking, ambitious and logical, but might also be stubborn or demanding.
· 1998 (Tiger): Unpredictable, powerful, daring, and sincere and generous, but might also be restless, impatient, or selfish.
· 1999 (Rabbit): Gracious, sensitive, kind, and artistic, but might also be moody and lazy.

A very popular tradition for Chinese New Year is to pass out hongbao (hong-bow) or red envelopes to youngsters as a symbol of prosperity. The envelopes often contain money, usually an even amount. EJ has some envelopes for you today to help celebrate the holiday.

Kung Hei Fat Choi (kung-hay-fat-choy)! Happy New Year!!!