A Tea Party 🍵 to conclude our Chinese 🇨🇳 New Year 🐉 Celebration
01/30/2017
To conclude our Chinese New Year celebration, Julia and Adrian decided to have a tea party. China is notable for its 🍵 green tea, and Julia remembered from the presentation at her school (read a post here), that China (along with Hong Kong, Korea and Macau) get three days of public holiday. So, today's tea-party, concludes our three-day Chinese New Year🎉 celebration.
Julia was excited to use contents of our China Continent Box (read a post here) to make the tea-party as authentic as possible!
Julia decorated the table with a dragon-craft children made earlier (read a post here).
A perfect compliment to green tea: Chinese red bean cake and berries.
"More tea anyone?" We are using this gorgeous child-size porcelain tea set from Germany.
Why not wear Hanbok to celebrate the occasion in the spirit?
Chinese people regard red as a symbol of energy, happiness and good luck. Sending red envelopes is a way to send good wishes and luck. Wrapping money in red envelopes is expected to bestow more happiness and blessings on the receivers, wishing them another safe and peaceful year.
Why a Year of a Rooster?
A very old custom is to name the years by one of 12 animals in Chinese zodiac cycle. The Year 2017 is the Year of the Rooster, the 10th animal in the cycle. A story tells, that a long time ago, Buddha called all the animals to help protect the year. Of all the animals, only twelve answered the call. In order to establish an orderly sequence, a race was called. In the race, the Ox would have taken the honor of taking first place had it not been for the clever and cunning Rat who rode on the back of the Ox and jumped forward at the finish line to steal away the top award. The rest of the animals battled one another, and this is how the ranking of the twelve animals came to be: (1)Rat, (2)Ox, (3)Tiger, (4)Hare, (5)Dragon, (6)Snake, (7)Horse, (8)Ram, (9)Monkey, (10)Rooster, (11)Dog, (12)Boar.
HAPPY NEW YEAR of a ROOSTER! Let prosperity, good luck, and health be with you!
p.s. Read here about our China Box, and the introduction to Montessori Cultural & Science Lesson on Continent Boxes.