02/06/2025
This Month at Yoga Magnolia – February 2025
This month crept on my me – and I almost forgot to write my monthly email. It’s been a busy January. It’s also the Chinese New Year, which started January 29 and lasts until February 12. It’s the year of the Snake, and it's all about renewal and regeneration. Lunar New Year — which includes Chinese New Year, Seollal in Korea, Tet in Vietnam and more — kicks off more than two weeks of parties, customs and feasts. The holiday is also known as the Spring Festival. Here’s some other interesting information about the Chinese New Year (www.swisseducationalcollege.ch/post/year-of-the-tiger-and-21-things-you-didn-t-know-about-chinese-new-year):
1. Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival
In China, you’ll hear it being called chunjie, or the Spring Festival. It’s still very wintry, but the holiday marks the end of the coldest days. People welcome spring and what it brings along: planting and harvests, new beginnings and fresh starts. Lantern decorations with the words “Spring Festival.” You can also call it the Lunar New Year, because countries such as North and South Korea and Vietnam celebrate it as well. And because the Spring Festival goes according to the lunar calendar. Which means .
2. There’s no set date for Chinese New Year
According to the Lunar calendar, the Spring Festival is on January 1st and lasts until the 15th (the full moon). Unlike western holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, when you try to calculate it with the solar (Gregorian) calendar, the date is all over the place. Chinese New Year ranges from January 21 to February 20.
3. It is a day for praying to gods...
The Spring Festival was originally a ceremonial day to pray to gods for a good planting and harvest season. As an agrarian society, the harvest was everything. People also prayed to their ancestors as they were treated as gods (see Mulan for reference). The best foods are offered to the gods.
4. And fighting off monsters
But the myths are much more interesting. According to one legend, there was a monster named Nian. It would come about every New Year’s Eve. Most people would hide in their homes. But one boy was brave enough to fight him off using firecrackers. The next day, people celebrated their survival by setting off even more firecrackers. And that practice became a crucial part of the Spring Festival.
5. The most fireworks in the world are set off that night
As in the myth about Nian, firecrackers are supposed to scare off monsters and bad luck. So people stay up on Chinese New Year’s Eve and set off firecrackers at midnight. In the morning, firecrackers are used again to welcome the new year and good luck. Both firecrackers and fireworks sound throughout the night. That same night, families also burn fake paper money and printed gold bars in honor of their deceased loved ones. Similar to the Korean Chuseok holiday or the Mexican Day of the Dead traditions, they believe the offerings will bring fortune and good luck to their ancestors in the afterlife.
6. Sometimes it’s illegal
Due to safety reasons and concerns over air pollution, many Chinese cities have banned fireworks. More than 500 cities have restrictions too. But many people don’t care about the legality and do it anyway. Beijing banned fireworks for 13 years. The ban was lifted in 2006 because of the angry public. If you’re in China during this time, you’ll probably be able to hear and see the explosions for at least three nights (and it can go on for weeks).
7. It is the longest Chinese holiday
The Spring Festival is technically 15 days. But celebrations start on New Year’s Eve (making it 16 days). You can also say that the holiday season starts in (lunar) December with the Laba Festival. That’s around 40 days of celebrations! During the holiday, Chinese people spend twice as much on shopping and eating out than Americans spend on Thanksgiving. Traditionally, you have to spend time with your family and can only go out after the fifth day. It’s a national holiday. The majority of stores are closed too. The month before the holiday begins, people will buy “nian huo,” or New Year’s products.
8. The Spring Festival causes the largest human migration in the world. The most important part of Chinese New Year is the family reunion. Everyone should come back home for the New Year’s Eve dinner. But in modern China, most elderly parents live in rural villages while their children work in the cities. The migration back home and to go on vacation during this time is called “chunyun,” or Spring Migration.ven on normal days, subways to work are jammed pack with people just barely squishing past the door. You can imagine the intensity of the chunyun. Plus, the earliest you can buy train tickets is 60 days before. It leads to a mad rush of actual fighting for tickets. In 2015, statistics showed around 1,000 ticket sales every second.
9. Singles hire fake boyfriends/girlfriends to take home
You know those nosy relatives during Thanksgiving? It’s even worse in China. Especially since having children and passing down the family name is one of the most important parts of Chinese culture. Some desperate singles resort to hiring a fake boyfriend or girlfriend to take home. Those who can’t (or don’t want to) go home can rent themselves out. For some of the other nosy relative questions though, such as your salary, career or when you want to have kids, you can hire answers for.
10. No showering, sweeping or throwing out garbage allowed!
Showering isn’t allowed on New Year’s Day. Sweeping and throwing out garbage isn’t allowed before the fifth. This is to make sure you don’t wash away the good luck! Most hair salons are closed during the entirety of Chinese New Year because hair cutting is taboo. What else is taboo during Chinese New Year?
• Hair cutting (before February 2)
• Using scissors, knives and other sharp things
• Arguing, swearing
• Saying unlucky words (such as “death” and “sickness”)
• Breaking things
11. Children receive lucky money in red envelopes
In other cultures, children receive gifts for holidays. Gifts are also exchanged during the Spring Festival. But Chinese children receive something else too—red envelopes. Red pockets (or red envelopes) are filled with money and given to children during the New Year. Also called red packets or pockets, these envelopes include money. This money is supposed to help transfer fortune from the elders to the kids. They can also be given between bosses and employees, co-workers and friends.
12. You eat dumplings for every meal, every day
Well, technically you’re supposed to. But not many people do that anymore because you can have too much of even the most delicious foods. So most people will eat dumplings during the New Year's Eve dinner. Others will eat them for the first breakfast. Dumplings with Chinese New Year decorations. Contrary to popular belief though, dumplings aren’t popular everywhere in China. It’s more of a northern thing. In the South, people would rather eat spring rolls (egg rolls) and balls of glutinous rice in soup called “tangyuan.”
13. Chinese New Year desserts have special meanings
A lot of cultures have symbolic foods, such as the Yule Log cake. But so many Chinese New Year desserts have special meanings behind them. And it’s mostly puns in the name. Make sure you get your fill of meaningful desserts!
14. There’s wine specifically for the Spring Festival
Chinese people love drinking. There’s a saying that there’s no manners and/or etiquette without wine. This means that you need to have wine for every ceremony, festival or important dinner. There’s wine for engagement dinners, weddings, birthdays and of course the Spring Festival. With such a rich wine culture, it’s no surprise that there are a bunch of drinking games you play. However, it’s not all fun and games. When you’re eating with someone older than you, as is the case with New Year’s dinners, you need to follow strict toasting etiquette rules. These rules include the order of toasts, seating, how you hold the wine glass, etc. etc. To learn more, read our post on Chinese New Year drinks and etiquette.
15. The Chinese decorate everything red for Chinese New Year
Every family will deck their homes in this color. Do you remember the story about Nian? Firecrackers aren’t the only thing that scared the monster away. Red is also an invaluable weapon and used in nearly all Chinese New Year decorations. Red is China’s favorite color and it’s pretty obvious during Chinese New Year. The Chinese will hang up red lanterns and strings of (real or fake) chili peppers, paste red paper onto doors and windows and more! New clothes are also believed to bring good luck and start over fresh. People will add new red clothing to their Spring Festival wardrobe too.
16. Every year has a zodiac animal
Western horoscopes include 12 zodiacs, one for each month. There are 12 Chinese zodiacs as well, but the animal is for the entire year. he 12 Chinese zodiac animals are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. 2025 is the Year of the Snake. Some of the animals (such as Rat, Snake, Dog and Pig) aren’t normally well-liked in Chinese culture. But as a zodiac, their positive traits are bestowed on people born that year. The zodiacs play a much bigger role in Chinese culture than in western cultures. Your animal can decide your career, health and relationship success. Make sure you find out what zodiac animal you are!
17. Your zodiac year is bad luck
Your benming year is the year of your zodiac animal. And of the 12-year cycle it is the unluckiest for you. There are multiple explanations for this. The Chinese believe that children can easily be taken by demons and your benming year is your rebirth year. Some people also wear protective charms made of red string and/or jade, red belts, red shoe inserts and much more. During this year, your weapon of defense is the color red. Just as you can decorate your home in red for protection and fortune, you can also wear red clothing. Many people will wear red underwear every day of the year. Others add on red shirts, pants, jewelry, insoles and more!
18. You grow one year older on the Spring Festival
In China, you have a “real” age and a “fake” nominal age. The real age is the one we all know about. You grow one year older on your birthday. Your nominal age, though, increases with the Spring Festival. This nominal age was the age most people went with until recent times. But it’s still common nowadays or used interchangeably with the real age. If you’re particular about it, make sure you ask!
19. The New Year greeting in Chinese is “xin nian kuai le”
The phrase literally means “Happy New Year.” But in Hong Kong and other Cantonese-speaking regions, it’s more common to say “gong hei fat choy.” Calligraphy with New Year blessings. If you check out other greetings or blessings, you’ll see that most are about:
• Plentiful harvests
• Wealth and fortune
• Health and longevity
• Having children and large families
Food, money and health are things that everyone wants. Passing down the family name is of utmost importance. That’s one of the reasons why China has such a large population.
20. Chinese New Year ends with the Lantern Festival
The first full moon of the lunar year is the Yuanxiao Festival; or Lantern Festival. Though family is still important, it’s a night of partying and freedom. Lanterns come in all shapes, sizes and colors. In ancient times, girls weren’t allowed to venture outside by themselves. But on this night, they were able to walk around, moon-gaze and look at the beautiful lanterns. Because of this, it’s also known as Valentine’s Day in China.
21. Chinese New Year is celebrated all around the world
One out of every five people in the world is Chinese. But that statistic doesn’t include the millions of overseas Chinese people and people of Chinese descent. Spring Festival celebrations in London, UK. London, England; San Francisco, USA; Sydney, Australia — all claim to have the biggest Spring Festival celebrations outside of Asia. We can’t say if that’s true or not. But if you have a Chinatown nearby, you can definitely get a feel of what the celebrations are like.
So wear red for good luck!
Need a massage? Feel free to contact Vanessa directly if you would like an appointment for a massage. Lately she has been giving massages on Saturdays and Mondays. Call Vanessa Sciafe on 252-314-0975 for more information. Gift certificates are available.
Smoothies: Kambria is back with her delicious smoothies, tea and coffee. She is open from 10 am until 2 pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Stop by and enjoy a drink. For the time being, Kambria will not be teaching any yoga classes.
Help with your diet: Sarah Brinker is offering a free health history to see if health coaching is a good fit for you. Sarah is a certified health coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and wants to help you succeed at following through with your health goals – whether that’s to lose weight or rid your body of toxins. Schedule a free 30-minute health history. Health stories can be done in person or over the phone. Call Sarah on 919-353-0882 for more information.
Need a tune-up? Do you need to be more energetically balanced? Would you like to reduce anxiety and stress and feel calm? Biofield Tuning is a form of energy medicine that uses sound waves, produced by tuning fork vibrations, to re-tune the body out of patterns of stress and tension. During a Biofield Tuning, a client lies fully clothed on a treatment table as a tuning fork scans the body. Susanna Martin is now offering this service at the studio. To schedule a tuning, please contact Susanna Martin directly at 201-401-4234.
Wishing you peace now and in the Chinese New Year!
Namaste,
Brenda
