“one ox, two oxen. one fox, two foxen.”
jenny lawson
Happy Chinese New Year in the year of the Ox- 2021!
Celebrated at the second new moon following the Winter Solstice,
Chinese New Year is also known as the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival.
According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar,
this festival marks the end of winter and the beginning of a long-awaited spring!
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image credit: fairycake fair, tokyo station, japantimes.com
sign of new beginnings
wonderful surprises ahead
my ever-struggling orchid
suddenly burst into bloom
just in time
to welcome in the new year.
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“hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come whispering – it will be happier”
-alfred lord tennyson
this year’s celebration is just going to be a low key affair
how will you be welcoming in the new year?
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“embrace curiosity, be open, playful, and persistent.”
-Debra Kaye, Red Thread Thinking: Weaving Together Connections
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image credit: pinterest vintage images, the pickle sisters vaudeville troupe, 1920s
A common story traces the tradition of the twelve lucky grapes, or uvas de la suerte, to grape farmers in Alicante, Spain, who suggested the idea when they had a surplus harvest to unload in the early 1900s. But according to food writer Jeff Koehler, newspaper articles about the tradition from the 1880 suggest it developed from Madrid’s bourgeoisie copying the French custom of drinking champagne and eating grapes on New Year’s Eve.
Either way, Spanish tradition eventually became a superstition that spread to Central and South America. Eating one grape at each of midnight’s 12 clock chimes guarantees you a lucky year—if and only if, you simultaneously ruminate on their significance. (Each grape represents an upcoming month.) If you fail to conscientiously finish your grapes by the time the clock stops chiming, you’ll face misfortune in the new year.
Superstitions tend to be specific, and uvas de la suerte is no different. Most Spaniards eat white Aledo grapes, which farmers in Alicante, Spain, protect from the sun, birds, and other pests by tying paper bags around as they grow. This process, which slows the grapes’ development and allows them to grow a finer skin, produces a grape that’s soft, ripe, and ready to be sold in twelve-packs in December. Now isn’t that lucky?
it’s a new year’s eve tradition
the famous wheel of cheese is back
much to everyone’s delight
let the celebration begin
happy new year
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‘if I tell you there’s cheese on the moon, bring the crackers.’
-tyronn lue
how many bubbles are in a glass of champagne?
—
french researcher, gerard liger-belair
has spent more than 15 years studying the drink
and has released his best guess:
2,000,000.
that is science, trial and error, trying until you get it right.
in support of his very thorough study,
I may be conducting my own research this evening.
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“champagne…it gives you the impression that every day is sunday.”
– marlene detrich
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credits: veuve cliquot vintage ad, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, bbc
New Year, New You!
Everyone starts fresh in 2018 with all late fees waived.
POOF!
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what a generous surprise gift from our library!
another reason why our community loves and supports them.
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“amnesty is as good for those who give it as for those who receive it.
it has the admirable quality of bestowing mercy on both sides. “
-victor hugo
what an incredible way to say goodbye to a year
walking across a frozen lake with special friends
while wrapped up for sub-zero temps
with twinkling snowflakes swirling down in silence
under the watchful eye of a beautiful moon
and waking up to see it all in a new light in the morning
as we welcome in the new year
“i always loved the idea that a photograph was a memory frozen in time.”
-ed gass-donnelly
happy new year.
name one person who has made your 2017 better.
