Thursday, February 3, 2011

It's Officially the Year of the Rabbit!


Today marks the day of the Golden Rabbit in the Chinese New Year and ends next year on January 22nd. According to Chinese Astrology, the Rabbit is the year for negotiations and a time to focus on security, diplomacy, and most importantly, your relationships with other people -particularly your family. The Rabbit is the symbol of the Moon which in turn is the Yin (from the term Yin Yang) of heaven, which signifies magic!

Okay...let's break that one down: Rabbit=Moon=Yin of Heaven=Magic...OKAY...GOT IT! The year of the Rabbit is going to be magical!

People all over the world are celebrating the new year festivities by having lots of Chinese food (yum!), music, games, activities, and traditional shows -such as the famous lion dance. The dance is a traditional dance in Chinese culture, in which performers mimic lion-like movements in a lion costume. Legend has it that the lion dance was used to scare away evil spirits, but as hundreds of years have passed and new traditions are made, the lion dance can be seen in all kinds of celebrations -including weddings!

During a reception, couples like to entertain their guests during dinner by having some form of visual entertainment. Many Chinese couples (or those who are of Chinese descent) like to captivate their guests by having a lion dance to incorporate some of their culture and heritage into their weddings-which ultimately creates a magical
event! But in all reality, people from other ethnic backgrounds like to have such performance as well!

As the new year kicks in (Since we're only in on the second month and it IS the Chinese new year today, does this still allow us to try and start on those new year's resolutions we made a month ago?) we'd love to wish you a big Kung Hee Fat Choy from Pacific Aisles! 2011 is already looking to be an AWESOME year, so let's make the most out of it!


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