Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is here!  Let us all officially welcome the year of the Blue Water Dragon 2012!  Chinese New Year is the most important traditional Chinese holiday.  In China, it is known as Spring Festival since the spring season marks the beginning of the Chinese lunar calendar.  The festival begins on the first day of the first Chinese lunar month and ends with the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the same month.  Therefore, the festivities last for half a month!  Though I'm not a Chinese, I was fortunate enough to celebrate Chinese New Year for two consecutive years with real Chinese people (thanks to MUHS)!  I had learned some Chinese culture and tradition and got acquainted with some Chinese trinkets.   

So let me introduce to you My Top Four  Favorite Chinese Things:

1.  Cheongsam (Qipao) - a high-necked dress with distinctive Chinese features.  It is buttoned on the right side, with a loose chest, a fitting waist, and slits up from the sides, all of which combine to enhance the beauty of the female shape.  It is the most typical, traditional costumes of Chinese women worn during formal or semi-formal occasions.  It creates an impression of simple and quiet charm, elegance and neatness.  I had the once-in-a-lifetime privilege to ramp a Cheongsam during our cultural nights last February 12, 2010 in Ozamiz and February 14, 2010 in Oroquieta to welcome the year of the Metal Tiger.

2.   Red Lantern (Hong Denglong) - a basic symbol of the Chinese culture.  It symbolizes brightness, happiness, and reunion.  It is closely linked with the lives of Chinese people, as you can find it everywhere in any China town all over the world, especially during festivals and holidays.  In Lantern Festival, the preferred warm red of traditional lanterns creates a convivial atmosphere during family reunions as well as lights up the hope for the New Year.  We decorated the stage with a number of red lanterns for our cultural night last February 3, 2011 in Ozamiz City Hall to welcome the year of the Metal Rabbit.

3.  Lion Dance (wushi) - performed at business establishments during Chinese New Year's celebrations for the lion brings prosperity and good luck to the business for the upcoming year.  The lion, a symbol of power, wisdom, and good fortune chases away evil spirits and brings happiness and longevity!  The MUHS Lion Dance Crew are highly applausable for their sacrifices in lion dancing!

4.  Red Envelope (hong bao) - handy-sized paper envelope stuffed with money that is often decorated with gold Chinese characters.  The elders give the youngsters hong bao for prosperity the whole year through!  I had a fair share of hong bao's before.

Festivities are a great thing to jumpstart a New Year!  Let us all be merry filled with all the good vibes and positivities for the year of the Blue Water Dragon!  So allow me to greet you  Gong Xi Fa Cai, Hong Bao Na Lai!  which in English means, "Wish you a prosperous New Year.  Give me a red envelope!" 

ONE LUCKY BLOG READER WILL GET A CHINESE LUCKY CHARM!

1.  Click LIKE on the Facebook button and TWEET on the Twitter button below this post.

2.  Send name and address to maryrosalieo@yahoo.com on or before January 31, 2012 with the subject "Chinese New Year".

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#celebratingnotcelebrating the Year of the Sheep 2015

I Heart MUHS

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Gold Leaf Gilding and Japanese Calligraphy Workshops

Japan is a country rich in arts and crafts.  Among the famous Japanese arts are:

Bonsai – the art of cultivating miniature trees

Ikebana – the art of flower arrangement

Origami – the art of paper folding

Haiku – the art of Japanese poetry

Gilding – the art of decorating objects with gold in leaf or powder form; and

Calligraphy – the art of writing Japanese characters beautifully

I was first introduced to one of Japanese art forms when I was in preschool.  Of course, we had the never-ending paper folding!  Me and my classmates made paper airplanes, paper balls, paper flowers, etc.  We were fond of making them that when we turned elementary, our teacher required us to have it as a project for the whole year.  And that time, she taught us advanced Origami.  Then it became very hard for us that we had to purchase Origami manuals.  Each object from the manual was so challenging to make  that once we did, we considered it as our trophy!

When high school came, we studied Japanese literature.  Our Japan-inclination leveled up that our teacher made us write 100 Haikus!  Those were more than enough compositions!  But we did the project diligently and take note, we didn’t have Mr. Google during those years so we didn’t have any means to cheat.  We did our compositions all by ourselves and I enjoyed it for I always love writing.  Some of my classmates even asked for some Haikus from me.

Then years in engineering and sciences deprived me of my artistic penchant until last summer when I attended the 2011 JCI Asia-Pacific Conference in Manila.  Our brothers from JCI Japan offered to give us free Gold Leaf Gilding and Japanese Calligraphy Workshops.

Since the 16^th century, the tradition of creating art using gold leaf has been preserved and continued in Japan.  Gold leaf has been used to enhance the beauty of many traditional Japanese arts and has been used in castles, shrines, temples, and on Buddhist altars.  It is also used in lacquerware, porcelain and folding screens.

While gilding gold on a mini plate

The thickness of the gold leaf is 0.1 micrometer.  When taking out the gold leaf, be careful.  Pick it up with a toothpick and slowly put it into your object.  Then a certain chemical is used to let the gold adhere into it permanently.

Successfully gilded a gold rabbit.  Thanks to my sensei (teacher)! 

99% of Japan’s gold leaf comes from Kanazawa, the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture.  The name for Kanazawa in Japanese is formed by two Chinese characters Kane meaning “gold” and sawa meaning “marsh”.  According to a legend, this name is derived from a marsh from which gold appeared.

You can try out gold leafing by visiting Kanazawa which is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated city of crafts and folk art!    Just for stopping by at Kanazawa, you’ll get a piece of Kanazawa gold leaf and a yummy gold leaf candy for that taste of luxurious gold!

Arigatou gozaimasu, JCI Kanazawa!:)

On the other hand, Japanese Calligraphy is an artistic writing of the Japanese language.  It is called shodou, or “the way of writing”. Though it shares its roots with the Chinese calligraphy, it has its own styles intrinsic to Japan.

There are three basic writing styles namely:

Kaisho – literally means “correct writing”.  Each stroke is made in a deliberate and clear way.  Below you can see the character for “dream” in kaisho style:

Gyousho – literally means “traveling writing”.  This is the semi-cursive style.  It is more flowing and artistic.  The same character is written in gyousho below: 

Sousho – literally means “grass writing”.  This is the flowing cursive style.  It supersedes readability as the artist rarely allows his/her brush to leave the paper, resulting in graceful, swooping shapes.  It is a more stylized work of art than a vehicle for conveying information.  The same character is written in sousho below:

My calligraphy sensei told me that I write good in Japanese calligraphy that he included my name on my mulberry paper for the Japanese character of love.  Maybe he must see my English penmanship too.  Hehe…

Trying out to spell L-O-V-E

My sensei writing my name in Japanese characters

With my experiences, I can say that Japanese arts are indeed traditional and unique.  Japanese had perfected a myriad collection of art forms that reflect Japan’s rich culture.  So I encourage you to try one of their arts and get that trance of artistic "Japanesa" in you!

Arigatou gozaimasu for sharing your arts with us, JCI Japan!:)

For more information about Kanazawa, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanazawa,_Ishikawa.

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New Year, New Beginnings

As another year unfolds, it’s inevitable for us not to review the past.  We look back and recollect our achievements and failures, happiness and sadness, as well as the kindness and mischief we did.  We ponder on lessons learned and tend to list down things we must keep up, must improve, and must change.  Then unknowingly, we had created a New Year’s Resolution.

Wikipedia defines New Year’s Resolution as a commitment that a person makes to one or more personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit.  It is made in anticipation of the New Year and new beginnings.  People committing themselves to a New Year’s resolution generally plan to do so for the whole following year.       

As I asked some blog readers of what their New Year’s Resolutions are, Edz Gutierrez answered, “After I graduated from college, the New Year’s Resolutions stopped.  Why?  I just stopped preparing them.  Maybe because a lot of them go unfulfilled anyway, so I no longer wanted to pressure myself into making a list and then breaking what I wrote in that list.”

I strongly agree with her in that aspect for many of us make very long lists of resolutions but at the end, they remain words in those lists.  A lot of times, we’re being hypocrites to our own selves that we say, “there’s still another year to come so save it for the next New Year”.  We’re just fooling ourselves that’s why some people do not believe in New Year’s Resolutions at all.

However, changes for the better are good so as Edz continued, “But for this hub, I decided to make another New Year’s Resolution list.  Since the New Year is a great time to review my past and plan for my future, but for any real change to occur there has to be a long term commitment.  It needs to be a CONSTANT LIVING RESOLUTION that I am committed to achieving.  This living resolution does not fade after January finishes, because it is alive and takes much more than a yearly review to survive.  I want to be UNUSUAL this year and make my New Year’s Resolution a LIVING RESOLUTION that remains a part of my life!”

Indeed, she’s correct!  That is why I’m sharing this to you, my dear blog readers – don’t lose heart in making New Year’s Resolutions.  A New Year is like a book with blank pages to be written with words.  A New Year is like a blank canvass to be painted with colors.  Let’s just see to it that the words we write are good and the colors we paint are bright.  Let us all have a positive outlook in life not just at the start of a New Year but the whole year through!

My Blog Correspondents New Year’s Resolutions:

Edz Gutierrez  “I’d like to continue sharing blessings to people who need help and give more time in community service.”

Vian Sila  “Baby!!!  Diet J”

Stephanie Laurete  “To sleep early…”

Jemimah Garcia  “To loose weight!!! and patience...”

Cheryl Singuran  “Not to be late in appointments anymore…”

Charelle Joy Macalisang  “Diet!  I will only eat Chinese lumpia and no lunch!”

Marie Celle Mosqueda  “DIET!  DIET!”

And for the blogger's New Year's Resolution, 

"I will find a boyfriend this year so it would be my turn this 12-12-12!:)"

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Welcoming New Years

New years are new beginnings!  They must be welcomed with positivity and good vibes!  There must be noise, coins, and foods!  Papa is in charged with the noise by clanging frying pans, mama is in charged with the coins by viva, throwing coins all over the house, while I'm the boss in the kitchen.  Everybody in the compound is invited to have media noche in our house, may they be immediate family, boarders, transients, or long-time tenants.    

New Year 2004 (My Gpa's Last New Year Picture with Us) 

But people come and people go.  If one left, another one arrives.  The important thing is, we are one in celebrating the new year!  

New Year 2006

But being one is sometimes unattainable for communal living because we are different as individuals.  Sometimes, some of us raise voices at each other for disagreements on things but we do resolve conflicts easily.

New Year 2007

And mind you, there were never wars between all of us because we are all peace-loving citizens.  

Plus, we have God as the center of our family that binds us altogether in one love.

Eventhough that now, some had gone out of the country, we still celebrate new year together through Skype or Ovoo.

New Year 2010

For it is always a great thing to be in oneness as we welcome every coming year of our lives.

Moreover, great things start from great beginnings!  Let us all start afresh with more love, peace, and harmony!    

Thank you, Year 2011 and welcome Year 2012!:)

Click LIKE below if you are in one of the pictures.  Looking forward to welcome more new years with you!:)

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