Skip to main content

Year of the Dragon



Kung Hei Fat Choy - Cantonese for Happy New Year.
Welcome the Year of the Dragon . A very auspicious year  it would seem … from the International Business Times … The Year of the Dragon is one of the most revered years of the Chinese New Year calendar, and those born under the sign are regarded as innovative, passionate people who are colourful, confident and fearless…. the Dragon is sometimes called a "karmic sign." The Dragon is larger than life and its appearance means that big things are to come. The Year of the Dragon is a flowing river, not a stagnant lake, so things happen quickly earlier in the year. The Dragon marks progression, perseverance and auspiciousness. It may also bring about unpredictable events.

To celebrate the new year we spent a couple of days in Sydney with our  family for the launch of the Chinese New Year Festival. We are sorry we will not be able to enjoy the legendary parade next weekend, but it clashes with the beginning of the school year in NSW… not good to have grandchildren celebrating late into the night before their first day of term.
What does Chinese New Year mean to our family?
Being together as a family,  of course ….
 Food, food and more food….

Tradition - Lion dances….

And parades ….

 Lots of good luck red….Red packets with money.... 

Making good wishes for the future .... 

New clothes in bright colours …
Chasing away  the bad spirits….
And welcoming the new and the good ….
                                       
Learning about heritage ….
Religious observance...

Reflection and meditation...
 Just having fun together regardless of the weather.... 
And when any more celebrating is just too much, there's nothing better than a vegemite sandwich and a sleep in the arms of someone who loves you....

Thanks to my beautiful family for making this Chinese New Year  celebration very special for me and to all  my friends and family my  best wishes for happiness, peace and love in the Year of the Dragon. 


Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 24, 2012 at 7:43 AM

    Wilma, what a wonderful post.I checked my bloglist and your blog was still listed, I hadn't removed , or altered it, but it wasn't coming upo on sidebar.Not sure why.Added again, now comes up.
    Tag Tuesday..thanks for telling me about it. What fun..the next month will possibly be a mini book!!
    Cheers
    Judy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wilma Simmons (Empress Wu Designs)January 24, 2012 at 10:24 AM

    Thanks Judy - sorry didn't mean that you had to change settings etc... I just remembered you had an interest in the Chinese New Year traditions for one of your students a couple of years back. So happy you are enjoying Tag Tuesday.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Forgiving FashionsJanuary 24, 2012 at 4:23 PM

    Beautiful photos and text - thanks Wilma for your good wishes and a Happy New Year to you.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas Countdown 25... Christmas Tree #1

Background : It has become a bit of a Christmas tradition for me to write an Advent blog - a series of posts leading into Christmas from 1 December . In the past,  I have featured Christmas characters by the alphabet, all you ever needed to know about Christmas cakes, Christmas Firsts  and  Christmas traditions.  I usually find myself on 30 November, thinking what  to do this year?  However, I've had  the idea of "crazy " Christmas trees in the back of my mind since last year.  So this year, it's about non- traditional, unusual, crazy, weird  Christmas trees.   There will also be a "handmade" element to my posts, so there may even be some links to tutorials or other ideas....  So here we go. Christmas Countdown 25 - 1 December.  Source : https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/455285843573622091 This is the image which started this line of thought....  a yarn bombed, crochet granny square Christmas tree.  I though...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...
3 comments
Read more

Christmas Countdown 4: Turducken

I had always thought that 'turducken' was a very modern dish  - a deboned chicken inside a deboned duck, inside a deboned turkey.  The birds are stuffed inside the gastric cavities and spaces are filled with poultry stuffing. There appear to be a few different earlier versions of this dish . I n his 1807 Almanach des Gourmands, gastronomist Grimod de La Reynière presents his rôti sans pareil ("roast without equal")—a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan bunting and a garden warbler—although he states that, since similar roasts were produced by ancient Romans, the rôti sans pareil was not entirely novel. The final bird is very small but large enough to just hold an olive; it also suggests that, unlike modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed in between the birds. Gooducken is a goose stuffe...
Post a Comment
Read more