Happy Chinese New Year!
This is the Year of the Snake. Analytical and graceful, the Snake Year promises to be prosperous and calm. Ah, wouldn't it be nice if...
Showing posts with label happy new year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happy new year. Show all posts
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Gung Hay Fat Choy 2013!
This is the Year of the Snake. Analytical and graceful, the Snake Year promises to be prosperous and calm. Ah, wouldn't it be nice if...
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Happy Hogmanay!
Hogmanay is the Scottish New Year's celebration that takes place over the course of several days. While the festival and its customs date back to pagan celebrations of winter solstice, the word Hogmanay itself is harder to trace. Scholars have guessed that the word possibly comes from the French, Norse, or Goidelic languages.
This year's Hogmanay festival in Edinburgh, Scotland's gorgeous capital city, starts on December 27th with a street carnival featuring rides and entertainment. The festival will officially get under way on December 30th, known as the "night 'afore," with a spectacular torchlight procession. Over 25,000 celebrants will follow Shetland’s Up Helly Aa’ Vikings, who march in Viking costume, through the city, to Calton Hill for a fireworks finale.
December 31st is Auld Year's Eve. Street parties, outdoor concerts (homeboys Simple Minds headline the main stage festival this year), and indoor concerts (a Baroque evening by candlelight in St. Giles' Cathedral), and The Keilidh (a concert of traditional pipe and drum Scottish music) all culminate in an overwhelming firework display at the stroke of midnight.
There are many charming New Year's customs in Scotland. "First footing" is the idea that the first person to cross the threshold of your home is a harbinger of good luck. Starting immediately after midnight, people call on friends, going from house to house for much of the night and even into the morning and next day, with over half the population of Scotland observing the practice of "first-footing." It is good luck for the "first-footer" to be a tall, dark male. Traditionally, this male would bring gifts of a coin (symbolizing prosperity), bread/ black bun fruitcake (symbolizing food), salt (flavor), coal (warmth), or a drink (good cheer). These days, a "first-footer" usually just brings the whiskey!
January 1st is Ne'erday, a contraction of New Year's Day. The celebrating and "first-footing" continue, the annual Loony Dook takes place in the Firth of Forth (a cold plunge for charity), and many Scots still observe the day with a special dinner of steak pie.
Haud Hogmanay, everyone!
http://www.edinburghshogmanay.org/
http://www.hogmanay.net/
http://www.visitscotland.com/
This year's Hogmanay festival in Edinburgh, Scotland's gorgeous capital city, starts on December 27th with a street carnival featuring rides and entertainment. The festival will officially get under way on December 30th, known as the "night 'afore," with a spectacular torchlight procession. Over 25,000 celebrants will follow Shetland’s Up Helly Aa’ Vikings, who march in Viking costume, through the city, to Calton Hill for a fireworks finale.
December 31st is Auld Year's Eve. Street parties, outdoor concerts (homeboys Simple Minds headline the main stage festival this year), and indoor concerts (a Baroque evening by candlelight in St. Giles' Cathedral), and The Keilidh (a concert of traditional pipe and drum Scottish music) all culminate in an overwhelming firework display at the stroke of midnight.
There are many charming New Year's customs in Scotland. "First footing" is the idea that the first person to cross the threshold of your home is a harbinger of good luck. Starting immediately after midnight, people call on friends, going from house to house for much of the night and even into the morning and next day, with over half the population of Scotland observing the practice of "first-footing." It is good luck for the "first-footer" to be a tall, dark male. Traditionally, this male would bring gifts of a coin (symbolizing prosperity), bread/ black bun fruitcake (symbolizing food), salt (flavor), coal (warmth), or a drink (good cheer). These days, a "first-footer" usually just brings the whiskey!
January 1st is Ne'erday, a contraction of New Year's Day. The celebrating and "first-footing" continue, the annual Loony Dook takes place in the Firth of Forth (a cold plunge for charity), and many Scots still observe the day with a special dinner of steak pie.
Haud Hogmanay, everyone!
http://www.edinburghshogmanay.org/
http://www.hogmanay.net/
http://www.visitscotland.com/
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Happy Cherokee New Year!
Happy Cherokee New Year!
The Cherokee people ended their year and started the new year in autumn. It’s interesting—and makes sense—that they chose the harvest to mark the end of the year. The earth had gone through a cycle: the food had grown from spring, through summer, and then was harvested in the fall. The cycle was finished; time to start anew. The New Year was celebrated with a festival that featured purifications, dancing, prayers and offerings, and food such as corn, beans, squash, and meat.
Since the Cherokee calendar was and still is extremely tied to the phases of the moon, the timing of the New Year observation is somewhat up for debate. Some sources say that it was observed on the first full moon after the start of autumn. Other sources report that the New Year was observed ten days after the first full moon, the ten days probably being a period of fasting and preparation for the festival (which means New Year is today!). Still other sources cite the first full moon in the Cherokee month of Nvdadequa or Nvwatitequa—which happens during our month of November—as the true Cherokee New Year.
Whenever it was celebrated, it was surely around this time... when the earth turns, the days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, and the weather turns cold. We prepare for the introspection that comes with winter, when the ground sleeps under the snow. That is the beginning of the year, the beginning of time: from darkness and cold springs life, new growth.
I wish you all "alihelisdi itse udetiyvsadisvi" or Happy New Year!
http://www.cherokee.org/
The Cherokee people ended their year and started the new year in autumn. It’s interesting—and makes sense—that they chose the harvest to mark the end of the year. The earth had gone through a cycle: the food had grown from spring, through summer, and then was harvested in the fall. The cycle was finished; time to start anew. The New Year was celebrated with a festival that featured purifications, dancing, prayers and offerings, and food such as corn, beans, squash, and meat.Since the Cherokee calendar was and still is extremely tied to the phases of the moon, the timing of the New Year observation is somewhat up for debate. Some sources say that it was observed on the first full moon after the start of autumn. Other sources report that the New Year was observed ten days after the first full moon, the ten days probably being a period of fasting and preparation for the festival (which means New Year is today!). Still other sources cite the first full moon in the Cherokee month of Nvdadequa or Nvwatitequa—which happens during our month of November—as the true Cherokee New Year.
Whenever it was celebrated, it was surely around this time... when the earth turns, the days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, and the weather turns cold. We prepare for the introspection that comes with winter, when the ground sleeps under the snow. That is the beginning of the year, the beginning of time: from darkness and cold springs life, new growth.
I wish you all "alihelisdi itse udetiyvsadisvi" or Happy New Year!
http://www.cherokee.org/
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