Chinese New Year ritual 

Every year in my family, the Lunar New Year takes up much more space than the 1st of January. This year the New Moon will take place on February 1st, one month after the Gregorian calendar also called solar calendar. 

Having a Ba-Noi – Vietnamese grandmother – and a mixed race father, I received every year these little red envelopes that I kept preciously on me throughout the year. 

The custom was to put money inside so that it would multiply throughout the year. 

The color red representing happiness, luck, wealth and love, all my family wears something red on this day, usually red socks 😀

The Lunar New Year is also an important day because it is considered that everything we do on this day will determine what we do the rest of the year.

So in many Asian countries, the New Year is one of the only public holidays because on this day, no one is supposed to work or spend money but instead, spend time with his family and rest. 

Finally, every year, the Dragon Dance allows the transition of the signs. The Dragon is the strongest of the 12 animals that answered Buddha’s call (the Rat, the Buffalo, the Tiger, the Cat, the Rooster, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Dog, the Pig, the Goat, the Monkey). It is the one who chases the animal whose year is ending (the Buffalo this year) in order to pass the torch to the next one (the Tiger). 

Each animal brings a particular energy and that of the Tiger is obviously powerful and especially welcome after the period of relative slowness brought by the Buffalo (2021) and the low profile brought by the Rat (2020).

The Tiger brings courage, vigor and risk-taking. Depending on the sign that influenced the year of your birth, the Tiger will have an accelerating or slowing influence.