On Tuesday, throughout China and other parts of Asia, together with millions of others around the world, people celebrated the start of the Lunar New Year, more commonly know as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. A great period of fun and festivities, culminating in the Lantern Festival on February 15th this year. I say, this year, because unlike some other western celebrations the date of the Lunar New Year changes according to the Lunar calendar. A time for family, food and fighting off monsters!
As tradition would have it, a monster known as Nian, would terrorize villagers, until someone discovered that burning dry bamboo would produce an explosive sound that scared the monster away. How inventive, and they say the mother of invention is necessity! Today, that sound is replicated with firecrackers, which together with wearing red, and decorating your home in red, all serves to scare away bad fortune, opening the way for good luck to find its way in.
Each year is represented by a Zodiac creature and this year, it is the year of the Tiger. It is known for its courage and energy, welcoming challenge and taking on risk. A real leader and protector of others.
As the world strives to get closer to the time when it is no longer in the grips of COVID, and the imminent possibility of conflict is all too real, we have to find a way to scare away the monster and make way for good fortune. We could all do with embracing the color red, make as much explosive noise as we can, and behave like Tigers, so we can get this year over the line and embrace a new dawn.
Happy New Year
新年快乐
