Gung Hay Fat Choy

I’m taking the day off so don’t think I’m writing this on company time.  I have a smattering of photos here from a dumpling making party I went to last week.  I wasn’t really good at it, but still, the party was a lot of fun.  In keeping with the theme, I wanted to wear a Chinese dress, but all the silk dresses I liked from Chinatown of course were the expensive ones.  And I wasn’t about to pay $100 for a dress I’d wear no more than once a year.  So I bought a red and black silk table runner, wrapped it around myself a few times, and made it into a top.  The sales attendant looked at me funny when I asked if I could try it on.  She reiterated it was a table runner.

“Oh no.  I know.  Where’s your mirror?”  She pointed toward the back of the store and wrinkled here forehead as I wrapped it around my torso.  “I’m going to wear it as a top.  I like the design. Yeah, I think I’ll take it.”

“That’s so smart!”  She laughed.  “I never thought of that.”

“You don’t think it’s like sacrilegious if I wear this to a dumpling making party, do you?”

“I think it’s great!”

So that’s my fashion story of the day.  I pretty much do the same with my silk scarves.  If they’re big enough, I’ll wrap them around and make a dress.

Here’s some facts that Wells Fargo pulled together into a brochure about the Chinese New Year.

You don’t have to be Chinese to celebrate the lunar new year.  The 15-day celebration centers around a collective celebration of our connections to one another–our ancestors, family, friends, neighbors, and business associates.  The underlying message is one of peace and happiness for family and friends.  It concludes this year on February 21 with the Lantern Festival.

The lunar calendar names each of the 12 years in the cycle after an animal.  According to one legend, Lord Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he departed from earth. Only 12 came to bid him farewell.  As a reward, he named a year after each one in the order they arrived: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig/boar.  This is the year of the rat, the 1st animal in the Chinese zodiac.  It represents the beginning of a new era.

To Do:

Greet others with ‘Gung Hay Fat Choy’ (Wishing you prosperity and wealth).

Give small red envelopes of good luck money to children and unmarried adults (hello, can I get some money???).

Wear brand new clothes, preferably in red, for luck.

Pay off debts and settle old grudges from previous year.

Avoid Doing:

Do not take garbage out to avoid throwing riches out the window.

Avoid using knives or scissors which might sever the luck or wealth of the new year.

Refrain from conduct such as saying anything negative, raising one’s voice, using indecent language or braking anything (all considered bad luck).

Abstain from washing hair to avoid washing luck away.

Gung Hay Fat Choy.  I’m off to enjoy this beautiful day and the new year!