Welcoming the year of the Water Dragon: The Chinese New Year

We thought we would take a closer look at the Chinese New Year.  Hope you find what we came up with as interesting as we have!

January 23, 2012 marked the beginning of the Year of the Water Dragon in the Chinese calendar. In China, this day is known as the Spring Festival, marking the end of the winter season.

The Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese calendar.  Starting with the new moon on the first day of the New Year the celebration ends with the Lantern Festival on the full moon 15 days later. The festival is celebrated at night with stunning lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements, therefore, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. The Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle) in order to reconnect with the solar calendar, very similar to the concept of leap year. 

According to legend and folk lore, the origins of Chinese New Year began with the fight against Nian, a mythical beast. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year in hopes it would not eat anything else. It is said that on one occasion the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red leading the villagers to understand the beast’s fear of the colour.  Villagers then began hanging red lanterns and red spring scrolls in their doors and windows.  Red is also the emblem of joy, virtue, truth and sincerity. Firecrackers were also used to frighten away the Nian. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk, and it became Hongjun Laozu's mount.

Customs concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely. For instance it is tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck.

Here are a few traditional superstitions to keep in mind:

• DO clean your house before New Year’s Eve to rid of the previous year’s bad luck.
• DON’T sweep or clean your house on New Year’s Day (this could sweep away good fortune).
• DON’T use scissors or knives on New Year’s Day (this could cut off good fortune).
• DON’T wash or cut your hair on New Year’s Day.
• DO wear reds and yellows, bright and happy colours that will bring good fortune.
• DON’T curse or speak of death. This could bring bad luck.
• DO settle your debts before the New Year.
• DO eat whole fish (abundance), chicken (prosperity) and dumplings (health and fortune).
• DON’T cut noodles (they represent long life).
• DON’T cry on New Year’s Day or you could end up crying for the rest of the year.

Prior to New Year's Day, Chinese families decorate their living rooms with blossoming flowers and platters of fresh citrus fruits. A highlight is the tray called "The Tray of Togetherness".  It is prepared with eight varieties of dried sweet fruit: an array of candy to start the New Year sweetly.  

Each item represents a symbol of good fortune: 

 

Candied melon - growth and good health
Red melon seed - dyed red to symbolize joy, happiness, truth and sincerity 
 Lychee nut - strong family relationships
Cumquat - prosperity (gold)
Coconut – togetherness 
Longnan - many good sons
Peanuts - long life
Lotus seed - many children

Families will come together and share a feast on the eve of Chinese New Year.  The feast generally includes pork, duck, chicken and sweet delicacies. The evening is capped with fireworks.  Fireworks were historically made from bamboo stems filled with gunpowder.

Early the next morning, donning new clothes and shoes, children greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year.  The children traditionally receive red envelopes of money. The red envelopes or red packets are also passed out throughout the celebration from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors. Per custom, the amount of money in the red packets should be of even numbers, as odd numbers are associated with cash given during funerals. 

The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

So with that said…

Gung Hey Fat Choy! - “Wishing You Prosperity and Health” from the Global Learning team!

“Tell me, I’ll forget. Show me, I may remember. But involve me, and I’ll understand.”

~ Chinese Proverb

 The following is a list of events to mark the Chinese New Year in the Toronto area:

• CIBC Lunarfest: Walk through a giant lantern aquarium at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. Lunarfest includes a contemporary showcase of Asian art, puppet shows, workshops, traditional New Year’s games and culinary treats. Friday until Tuesday. Admission is free.
• Chinese New Year celebration at Scarborough Civic Centre: Performances include Lion Dance & Dragon dance, a variety of folk and classical dances performed by young dancers, singing and martial arts. Jan. 29, 2-4 p.m. Admission is free.
• Chinese New Year community celebration at the Chinese Cultural Centre, Scarborough: Sunday, noon-3 p.m. Admission is free.
• Chinese Cultural Centre Year of the Dragon banquet: Bring friends and family to the Chinese Cultural Centre’s banquet. Jan. 29, dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets $45/$60.
• Chinatown Foodies Walk: Hosted by the Taste of the World’s culinary historian Shirley Lum, the event features dim sum and tours of a grocery store and Chinese bakery. Saturday, Sunday, Jan 28-29, Feb. 4-5, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Adult admission $45, seniors and students $40, children 12 and under $30.
• The Year of the Dragon events at Markham’s Pacific Mall: New Year’s Eve countdown Sunday at 10:30 p.m. New Year’s Day celebration Monday at 3 p.m. Lion dance performances Jan. 28 at 12:30 p.m.

 

Gamble with Diversity

 

My birthday happens to be the first week of January, which always makes it an interesting time of year for me. Don't worry; I will forgive you for not sending an e-card. Inevitably it's difficult for me to convince people to celebrate on my actual birthday because many are only beginning to have their shame subside for behaviour caused by one too many types of eggnog on New Year’s Eve. 

Every few years, I muster up a group of friends and head down to Niagara Falls for a weekend at the casinos. I’m not really the gambling type, but there is something nice about just getting away on a quick all-inclusive weekend vacation and, since we are headquartered here in Ontario, it’s just at our doorstep. 

When I do gamble, I have always been a roulette fan. There is something so timeless about the game. The wheel, the quickly spinning colors and sound of the rolling ball all indulge my appreciation for the experience. 

Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for the phrase little wheel; petite roue. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even.

To determine the winning number and color, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, while alternatively launching a ball in the opposite direction on a tilted circular track running around the circumference of the wheel. Eventually losing momentum the ball falls on to the wheel and into one of 37 (European roulette) or 38 (North American roulette) coloured, numbered pockets.

Historically, the Wheel of Fortune, or Rota Fortunae, is a medieval concept and ancient philosophy that refers to the wayward nature of Fate. The thinking behind it is that the wheel belongs to the goddess Fortuna. She spins the wheel at random and changes the positions of those on the wheel: some suffer great misfortune, others gain windfalls, and some remain on neutral grounds.  

This last time I was playing, the notion hit me: roulette makes an incredible business case for diversity and inclusion. It represents an ideal that I encourage you to embrace for 2012: 

Embracing the power of possibilities.   

The changing times and adjusting populations are a clear example of similarities to the wheel of fortune. We can’t control life and its beautiful randomness, but we can strategically increase our possibilities, which by nature increase our potential for success.

Let’s say:

• The roulette table represents a specific industry.
• The wheel and ball represent the changing times and fickle attitudes of the public needs. 
• The numbered/coloured squares represent all the varied areas of expertise that exist within an industry.
• Your chips represents the valuable assets; money, ability, and time.

As a business owner, you have several basic strategies you can take:

• Place large amounts of your own chips in one or limited number of squares.

This is for the pure risk takers. All in/All out types. In this scenario, you have increased your opportunities to fail. The public, time and time again, has proven that even if you are in today, you may be out tomorrow.   Some people enjoy that aspect as it provides a limited amount of commitment, but longevity can be like finding the needle in the haystack.  

• Place small amounts of your own chips in as many squares as possible. 

Sure you have increased your possibilities for success, but you have capped its value potential. That evil phrase, ROI, will never really represent the efforts being implemented into your vision. This will leave you stressed, tired, broke and with underdeveloped ideas. If it doesn’t, you are one of the lucky ones.

• Collaborate. Strategically place your chips combined with others chips on as many squares as possible.

You have a vision to win and if you can convince others that your vision is worthwhile, they will invest their assets – their time, ability and/or money alongside of you. Now you can cover as many squares as possible, with the proper amount of time and/or funding needed. This scenario leaves you, without a doubt, with the highest level for potential success. 

 All business is a gamble. Using diversity as a tool while taking these risks will only heighten the value of your potential. When we increase the diversity of our expertise, combined with fostering inclusion of others’ assets, we create opportunities for unexpected innovation and in turn hopefully fiscal and/or ethical growth.

“The power of possibilities is endless.” - Quite the birthday gift of a realization.

(And the $50 that I won didn’t hurt either!)

“All the evidence shows that God was actually quite a gambler, and the universe is a great casino, where dice are thrown, and roulette wheels spin on every occasion” 

- Stephen Hawking