Celebrating The New Year within Taoism

[AlekTao]

(I'm not sure if the title's correct, but... )

 

I am wondering - How do you celebrate New Year?

 

I found this source on the internet, but I want some more information if it's possible.

F.ex.: What is "lucky red packets" and "lucky food"?

 

( http://cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/cny/traditionscustoms.asp )

 

Thanks

Edited January 1, 2007 by AlekTao

[Taomeow]

(I'm not sure if the title's correct, but... )

 

I am wondering - How do you celebrate New Year?

 

I found this source on the internet, but I want some more information if it's possible.

F.ex.: What is "lucky red packets" and "lucky food"?

 

( http://cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/cny/traditionscustoms.asp )

 

Thanks

 

for the Chinese New year...

Clean the house to utter impeccability!!! This is the single most important thing to do. Any dirt carried over to the New year from the old one will transfer old troubles right over and you'll get "more of the same" instead of anything new. Don't clean New Year's Day though! Especially don't sweep or you will sweep all the new luck right out.

 

As for the rest, it's way too complicated for a Westerner to replicate. You have to have grown up with the tradition, and have a mother, grandmother, aunt, sister well versed in the art of cooking those lucky foods and taking care of all the details. The noodles have to be extra long, for long life. The black fungus... nah, I won't even try to cook anything out of that, I'm sure I'll mess it up. But none of it is as important as the ideal order and perfect sanitation of the environment in which you will usher in the new year, and also good company and a joyous, happy ambiance.

 

As for the Western New Year (which has no energetic consequences, having been chosen arbitrarily and not being aligned with the new solar year, so it's not real, really), mine is Chinese flavored too these days because my taiji teacher invites all his students for a celebration at his home. It is a traditional American potluck with just one little Chinese twist: no one is allowed to wear their street shoes inside the house...

[Taoist81]

Taomeow, would you mind expounding on the "energetics" of the Chinese New Year? I was under the impression that it would be based on the lunar year. As for the "western" new year, one can see its correlation albeit a week or two behind, the winter sostice, thus correlating with solar and lunar changes.

[Leidee]

for the Chinese New year...

Clean the house to utter impeccability!!! This is the single most important thing to do. Any dirt carried over to the New year from the old one will transfer old troubles right over and you'll get "more of the same" instead of anything new. Don't clean New Year's Day though! Especially don't sweep or you will sweep all the new luck right out.

 

As for the rest, it's way too complicated for a Westerner to replicate. You have to have grown up with the tradition, and have a mother, grandmother, aunt, sister well versed in the art of cooking those lucky foods and taking care of all the details. The noodles have to be extra long, for long life. The black fungus... nah, I won't even try to cook anything out of that, I'm sure I'll mess it up. But none of it is as important as the ideal order and perfect sanitation of the environment in which you will usher in the new year, and also good company and a joyous, happy ambiance.

 

As for the Western New Year (which has no energetic consequences, having been chosen arbitrarily and not being aligned with the new solar year, so it's not real, really), mine is Chinese flavored too these days because my taiji teacher invites all his students for a celebration at his home. It is a traditional American potluck with just one little Chinese twist: no one is allowed to wear their street shoes inside the house...

 

 

I wouldn't agree to say that the Western New Year has "no energetic consequences". Even realising it is chosen arbitrarily - I feel it does have energetic consequence due to the energy directed towards it by the people experiencing it in that moment...it is given a certain power by virtue of the belief that it is a new year.

 

Leidee

[AlekTao]

I see...

 

So, how do you celebrate it then? Are you just celebrating the first two days?

 

And I wonder: Does America have any Temples?

[Taomeow]

Taomeow, would you mind expounding on the "energetics" of the Chinese New Year? I was under the impression that it would be based on the lunar year. As for the "western" new year, one can see its correlation albeit a week or two behind, the winter sostice, thus correlating with solar and lunar changes.

 

It is solar-lunar and, most importantly, closely linked with the Five Phases, yin-yang, and the I Ching. Every year, month, day, and hour is connected to a particular type/phase of cosmic and earthly qi, and the particular energy of any given moment is what it is, i.e. the moon, the sun, the stars are in a certain position vis a vis each other and our earth; and this is not arbitrary, it is a fact of reality. The taoist calendar happens to have kept track of this reality, and traces the origin of these energies in the universe to their very unfolding, to the beginning of Hou Tian, Earlier Heaven (aka tao-in-motion), as well as projects them into the future, and therefore knows at any point of time what's up anywhere in the uinverse in terms of the types of qi governing the moment. In other words, energies of the world are not what we want them to be, what we think they are, etc., they are quite real with or without our thinking anything at all about them, for they are a continuity, they have a developmental history that determines what they are today and where they're headed tomorrow.

 

A real New Year is new because some real cosmic cycles have closed themselves and are ready to start over ("the pattern of tao is motion and the pattern of this motion is return," or to put it in my favorite terms, "tao fa ziran.") Random attribution of "new" this and "new" that to things that are not new doesn't make them new -- there's no new moon in the sky when there's no new moon in the sky whether we call this day our "Western" New Year's day or not. Similarly, there's no new Celestial Stem phase of the year on December 31st, and no new Earthly Branch phase. We don't feel it but that's because we've lost our ability to feel subtle energies... unlike our far ancestors... but the calendar that has retained this sensitivity to the subtle energies of the world, the taoist one, knows it's not there yet, it will come come February 4th (this particular year, or a somewhat different day in a different year). So we may be celebrating "something," it's a nice thing to celebrate anything at all... but if we really want to celebrate "the New Year," it's got to be the taoist one, from which the "generically Chinese" one derives all of its wisdom.

[Wayfarer64]

In some areas of China it's a popular custom to give oranges - because in Chinese, the word "orange" sounds like "Ji", which means "good luck". People present oranges to their friends and relatives to express their respects and good wishes for the coming year.

 

 

 

Gong Ji Fat Choy or Gong Hoy Fat Choy are typical ways to wish good luck for the New Year... I bet just googling Chinese New Year will get ya some recipes worth trying.

 

TaoMeow- why the 4th and not the 18th as the New Year is more typically celebrated by the Chinese this year!?

Edited January 4, 2007 by Wayfarer64

[Taomeow]

TaoMeow- why the 4th and not the 18th as the New Year is more typically celebrated by the Chinese this year!?

 

The Chinese New Year is a two-week affair. The New Year begins February 4th this year, and the Chinese New Year Day is celebrated on February 18th, 2007. The 18th is the new moon day, and it is the first day of the first Chinese lunar month. The exact new moon time is at 00:14 on 18-Feb-07 in China time zone.

 

If we apply Chinese lunar calendar system to the USA time zones, in the US Pacific Standard Time (PST), the new moon time is at 08:14 of 2-17-07. In the US Eastern Standard Time (EST), the new moon time is at 11:14 of 2-17-07. Therefore, the Chinese New Year day for USA time zones is on February 17th, 2007.

 

The new moon time is at 16:14 on 2-17-07 of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and at 17:14 on 2-17-07 of Time Zone GMT+1. That means Chinese New Year day is on February 17th, 2007 for European countries. For Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Thailand using GMT+7 time zone, the Chinese New Year Day is on February 17th, 2007, too.

Edited January 4, 2007 by Taomeow

[QiDr]

The actual start of the lunar new year is the 18th and runs for fifteen days. The ancient rituals were about scarring away beasties with noise and the color red. The modern rituals are about making new beginings and celebrating the home and family. they mostly revolve around saimian, oranges and dumplings and eating. It is as good a start to the year as you could ask.

[Taomeow]

The actual start of the lunar new year is the 18th and runs for fifteen days. The ancient rituals were about scarring away beasties with noise and the color red. The modern rituals are about making new beginings and celebrating the home and family. they mostly revolve around saimian, oranges and dumplings and eating. It is as good a start to the year as you could ask.

 

Um... The Yellow King's inauguration was held on December 23rd, 2698 B.C.., the day of the winter solstice. This is the beginning of the Chinese calendar. Counting from this day, February 4th is the first day of the new Chinese year 4704, while the 18th is the first day of the first lunar month... like I said before, the Chinese system is solar-lunar, aka solilunar, aka lunisolar. Not sure about the spelling, pretty sure about the rest.

[Wayfarer64]

Dear QiDr & Tao Meow,

 

There seems to be a slight discrepancy between the way you each measure from what day the new year starts. I assumed that it would be started at the actual new moon -17/18 around the world but TM you are saying that the two week celebrations start two weeks before and end on the 17/18th.

 

Are there variations in practice here or just some confusion as to standard/modern practice...?

TM are you using a more purely Taoist measurement or practice?

 

The actual new moon is a given in this, so I guess it is a matter of practice and custom that are variable...

 

When I used to go to my Hung Gar master's Shaolin celebrations it was tied to the actual new moon date - as were the rest of NYC's China Town's related activities...But if TM -you have another way to calculate these dates I am very interested...

 

In any case I sure hope that the new year brings ALL the Tao Bums much prosperity and progress in our cultivation and searchings!