SOUTHMAYD LEARNS ABOUT “THE YEAR OF THE PIG”
Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) is celebrated not only in China but by Chinese populations throughout the world. On February 5, Linda Hagen came to Southmayd to help our residents learn about the customs and traditions of this new year’s festival and to share stories from her experiences while living in Singapore.
Linda, a new member of the Board of Directors, recently donated four Chinese Peasant paintings to decorate the hallway walls of Southmayd and she used one of these, which depicts the lantern festival, to illustrate the traditions of this celebration.
“The origin of the peasant paintings is very interesting,” said Hagen. “They depict everyday life in China and were originally encouraged by the Communist government to glorify the Communist ideals,” she explained.
Lasting 15 days, important events take place such as visits to families and the veneration of ancestors. Many symbolic foods are eaten and specific customs are followed to insure good luck, prosperity and abundance for the New Year.
Red is the color for good luck and gold is the color that means prosperity. Therefore red and gold decorations such as lanterns, orange trees tied with red ribbons, etc. are seen everywhere. Linda brought in an arrangement with orange leaves, gold ornaments and pussy willows: a traditional sign of spring and the new year.
Foods also play an important role. Anything red or orange and round is symbolic of good luck and continuing prosperity and any food with many seeds is symbolic of abundance. Residents drank tea, tasted sesame seed cookies (many seeds = abundance) and ginger half-moon cookies, symbolic of the lunar New Year.
In addition to posters with photos of Singapore life, she brought in some examples of antique children's clothing--intricately embroidered, little caps, shoes and robes.
Later that day, Eileen Mudry, another Southmayd Board Director, made a presentation about the 12 animal signs of the Chinese Zodiac: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Eileen explained how each animal has a different personality and characteristics and that the animal is believed to be the main factor in each person's success and happiness in their lifetime.
Eileen researched each resident’s birth year and presented them with a summary of the characteristics and personality of each animal. Residents then had fun comparing their particular personality traits with others and discovering which famous actors, politicians and cultural figures share their zodiac sign.
