Happy Chinese New Year, Y’All!

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That’s Texan for 新年快樂 and today is the start of the Year of the Dragon! So in addition to being a big year for my youngest sister thanks to her year of birth, this should be a year of power and prosperity for all, as the dragon is symbolic of not only royalty but is the only truly rare creature in the Chinese zodiac, being supposedly mythical and all. I happen to know where one or two hang out, but then I am kind of special, being a Rat (we Rats won the Emperor’s race between the twelve great creatures, for those of you not in the know).

And why should an old Norsk-descendant-living-in-north-Texas like me care about Dragons and Chinese calendars? Because I find all sorts of cultural treasures from all sorts of rich cultures fascinating, and why wouldn’t anyone. It’s an ecumenical sort of thing with me: most cultures have at many levels interests, beliefs and strengths that are not only worthy of examination but surprisingly held in common by many, if not most, others–simply under different names–and I think it’s tremendously impressive and endlessly intriguing to learn how our seemingly diverse nationalities, languages, customs and faiths ultimately intertwine.

Have you ever looked at a piece of Folk Art and thought that it might come from East Africa somewhere–but then thought that it might equally have come from the hands of Inuit artists or Suomi ones, dwellers in Oceania or Croatia or maybe somewhere in the heart of Syria? It’s amazingly frequent that one comes across such remarkably strong commonalities across cultures and borders that it takes a veritable forensic investigation and examination to determine a thing’s true origins. In many cases we learn along the way that in fact the point of “origin” for a single word, object, or idea as we know it was the end point of a long and winding journey through many cultures and across many borders.

That’s a mighty long-winded way of saying that it’s only natural in my view that I should be happy to learn more about and celebrate other nationalities’ and other people’s most fabulous and fascinating attributes.

The other aspect of my personal interest is simpler, perhaps: some of my Norwegian ancestors lived and worked in China in pre-Communist years and founded a school that is still flourishing under the care of Chinese teachers and administrators. For all that I deplore about the darker sort of “evangelism” practiced by many missionaries under the guise of Christian faith (and perhaps others), this kind of mutual interchange of ideas and contribution of efforts strikes me as among the best in any relationship and one I’m happy to recognize. My mother’s cousin, at the time the Norwegian Ambassador in Beijing, took my visiting aunt to the school a few years ago and they were welcomed like some sort of heroes returning from the mists of time on their arrival merely for being descended from the school’s founders, so I think it safe to say that this was seen as a more positive influence than some.

And finally, my love of things Chinese comes from wonderful friends who either are Chinese by birth or descent themselves or have spent joyful time immersed in China and Chinese culture. One such couple would be my “extra grandparents” the wonderful Talbert and Ella, who had also lived with great happiness for years of missionary work in China. Again, I know both from their deeply gentle and thoughtful natures as surrogate grandparents and from the fact that they were in the first party of Westerners actually invited to return to the Chinese interior after the flowering of détente, that this was a true love for them. The plain yet happy upshot in my middle-American life was that as a young girl I was taught by Talbert how to hold my chopsticks properly, grew up eating genuine and very humble stir-fries in my Norwegian-American home because Ella shared her know-how with Mom (long before Americans ever knew of any Asian foods more authentic than Chop Suey and Egg Foo Yong as defined by westernized restaurants), and I was regaled with tales of a magical kingdom that was surprisingly real.

When we lived outside Chicago for a couple of years during that time, a highlight was a dinner Talbert and Ella took us to at a classic hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant of the truly authentic sort, where Talbert chattered in Mandarin with the delighted owner and ordered us an unforgettably delicious feast. The owner was so taken with us that when he discovered that our party there was coincidentally on my (11th?) birthday, he came out and very ceremoniously presented me with a whole packet of chopsticks bearing a series of characters meant for good fortune, and even wrote them down. Such was the delight of the occasion that I can still show you that slip of paper. I made a little graphic out of the characters too, and will share that with you as well, as a token of my good wishes to you for this year. And most of all, because China, through its beauties of people’s shining souls, its art, its rich and almost infinitely ancient culture, its fabulous food and its dreamlike diversity has been such a gift to me all of my life, I wish all of you a very Happy Chinese New Year!

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Happiness! Prosperity! Longevity! Peace!

 

And since I know you’re still wondering, yes, I did go and look up the local dragon. It’s not so much that they’re shy, but being both rare and royal, they’re understandably a little bit protective of their privacy. This particular dragon was lounging around with a unicorn friend and just let me have a quick peep, seeing that it’s His Year, so I could report back to you with confidence that it’s going to be a grand one indeed.digital image from a P&I drawing

40 thoughts on “Happy Chinese New Year, Y’All!”

  1. Happy Chinese New Year to you too, Kathryn.
    Blessings for this wonderful Year of the Dragon.
    (Plus I find it amazing that you appreciate Chinese culture as much as you do).

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    • You are so sweet, my dear! And I hardly need to say that a blog *dedicated* to inspiring people and stories and joys like yours is a great inspiration to me and to many others! Many, many thanks to you for all of the uplifting beauty you share.

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  6. And a very Happy Chinese New Year to you too. It’s fascinating that your ancestors set up a school in China and that your Mum learned to cook in an Asian way before food from that continent was widely available.

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  9. I wandered to the hot link you posted just to learn a bit more that I might not have known! And while I knew that I was born in the year of the horse, I hadn’t given much thought as to how that might affect my PERSONALITY!!! (Horse – 馬 / 马 (午) (Yang, 3rd Trine, Fixed Element Fire): Cheerful, popular, quick-witted, changeable, earthy, perceptive, talkative, agile, magnetic, intelligent, astute, flexible, open-minded. Can be fickle, arrogant, childish, anxious, rude, gullible, stubborn.) However, my brains tell me that oh, maybe one or two other people were born in the year of the horse and we can’t possibly share all of the same traits. It is a pretty thought though!
    Now, while you were getting a far more interesting education on using chop sticks and learning about a wonderful culture, I had to sit through interminable business dinners with my parents, learning which fork to use, which glass to use and how to be quiet. Yours sounds infinitely better to my child’s heart!

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    • ‘Fraid I still don’t know much about useful table etiquette in this here western hemisphere. But I did learn in my college Chinese mini-course that the way I learned to hold my chopsticks not only worked well but was the proper method for the most refined of classes: scholars and concubines! Ha! I’m classier than anybody ever thought! I’ll leave it to the imaginations of others to determine whether that’s true and if so, in which direction(s). 😉

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  11. “Happy New Year to you, too, Kathryn!” said the Horse to the Rat.

    I was out-and-about for a good portion of the day and, upon returning, there were quite a few posts for me to read and enjoy. I saved yours for the very last. Every parfait needs a cherry topper and this post was mine. Not bad, for a Rat. :)~

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  14. Comparing mythologies from around the world is something I’ve always been interested in, though I don’t know much about Asian cultures at all…do they have faeries or Little People, too? Just wondering…
    Happy New Year, from this Monkey to you, Ms. Rat!

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    • There’s some valid contrary info to pretty much every accepted truth on the planet and in the heavens, from what I can tell! Why early humans wouldn’t’ve seen at *least* some massive reptilian beasts I can’t imagine.

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  16. Speaking of dragons, did you know that dragon and dragoon are two forms of the same word? A dragoon was originally a type of firearm that was so named because it “breathed fire” like a dragon. Later the term came to be applied to the soldiers who used that sort of weapon.

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    • In addition, I’m picturing those same dragoons lounging around off duty, dicing and smoking their meerschaums and hand-rolled, very-unfiltered cigarettes like fire-breathing dragons as well.

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  17. “it’s tremendously impressive and endlessly intriguing to learn how our seemingly diverse nationalities, languages, customs and faiths ultimately intertwine.”
    This is something I have become more and more convinced of after I started blogging. The more blogs you follow from different areas of the world the more you see the similarities and connections.
    Happy chinese new year to you too Kathyrn

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    • Suddenly I’m thinking of The Wind in the Willows! Delighted to learn you are also a Rat, though it’s a safe bet you’re a bunch of zodiac cycles younger than *this* bewhiskered beauty! I hope you have as much fun working your way through more batches of 12 years as I’ve been having!
      xoxo

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