Full Snow Moon and Lantern Festival

Darcy's first snow day (2019)!

Tonight is the full moon called the Snow Moon. We've been having low enough temperatures for snow, but no more than a dusting here in town.

Tonight is also Yuan Xiao, the 15th and last day of the Chinese New Year Festival. Yuan xiao means "first night", meaning the first time that the full moon is seen in the New Year.

This festival's other name is the Lantern Festival, because on this night folks make or buy lanterns of all kinds: shaped like flowers, or boats, or birds; made of bamboo, silk or paper; decorated with paintings, embroidery, paper cuts, tassels, and fringe.

Everyone takes to the streets to display their lanterns. It’s like a carnival: Children dress in costumes and watch parades with lighted floats, fireworks displays, puppet shows, and dances.

Agenda for today:

1. Journal queries
2. Altar
3. Practice Receptivity
4. Gestation Walk
5. Make tang yuan, sweet dumplings
6. Hang a lantern
7. Riddle guessing

1. Journal queries:
Consider the relationships, new projects, ideas, and missions I am nurturing in my life. How can I be more openhearted and patient with these?

2. Altar:

It's time to discern what to put on my altar for the next 30 days or so. (For my thoughts on altars see About Altars). I generally keep it simple and choose only things that speak to me and feed me, and reveal what I believe in. I ask, what quality of Spirit do I want to invoke?

Things I'm keeping-

• pine cones- for potential growth and enlightenment
• a piece of quartz- for the purity of winter
• a beaded snake - for healing and regeneration 

Things I'm adding-

• a heart for receptivity and love
• a red candle for courage, confidence, and perseverance.
• a pink candle for openness and generosity, and to remind myself that vulnerability also takes courage.

3. Practice receptivity:

My theme for the next 30 days is receptivity; like the earth- accepting the seed, and willing to nurture it. Receptivity requires that I be open and available, and also requires that I do the work to care for what I receive. 

My goals this month are to:

• Hold and nurture all of my many projects and relationships.
• Study and practice habits to build my equanimity
• Open to synergy with new friendships.

4. Gestation Walk:

When I walk Sadie each morning, I often practice a meditaion, and this month I'm using gestation as a focus--  

1. Walk: Begin my walk, center my weight low and maintain balance as I walk. Remember what it was like to be pregnant; focus on that image of my body as a place of sustenance and care. 

2. Open: Turn a corner and think about the projects, ideas, and relationships I'm nurturing today. Open my heart to the mystery that is coming, and let all my reservations and defenses fall away.

3. Hold: Hold each project, idea, or relationship in my heart for a moment, and notice the needs of what is growing.

4. Nurture: Think of one concrete thing I can do to nurture each today. Create a clear picture in my mind, then let it go. 

5. Make tang yuan, sweet dumplings:

It is a tradition to eat these round sticky dumplings on the Lantern Festival to symbolize the full moon and also family togetherness. 

They are delicious, but very rich, so only cook a few for each person, and freeze the rest to cook later. I used two different fillings- sweet bean paste (you can buy it ready to use at Asian Markets), and one made with black sesame seeds. The recipe is here.

6. Hang a lantern:
In China, the lantern is a symbol of eternal hope. I make a new lantern each year to hang on the front porch.

I used a yellow cellophane around the jar on the left, and white tissue
on the small jar in the center.

Supplies: A clear jar, tissue paper (optional), red paper (we used butcher paper), double stick tape, wire, gold cord

1. Choose a clear jar, big enough to hold a votive candle.

2. Cut a strip of yellow or white tissue paper to wrap around the jar and overlap just a bit (I used cellophane). Tape the strip where it overlaps. Or you can leave the jar clear.

3. Cut many 1-inch strips of red paper a bit longer than the height of the jar; you will need between 11 and 20 strips.

4. Put a small piece of double stick tape at the top and bottom of each strip and attach them one at a time to the rim and the bottom edge of the jar, overlapping each strip by about half.

5. Add a wire around the top rim if you want to hang it outside. Decorate with gold cord around the top.


7. Riddle guessing: 
It’s a custom at the Lantern Festival to have riddle-guessing contests; people copy out a puzzling riddle onto a paper lantern, and hang it at the door, with the promise of a reward to any who may succeed in unraveling it. 

Here are some of my favorite riddles:

• What always goes to bed with his shoes on? (A horse)

• What has feet but can't walk? (A yard stick)

• What has eyes but can't see? (A potato or a needle)

• What has hands but can't feel? (A clock) 

• What has ears but can't hear? (Corn) 

• What has teeth but can't chew? (A comb)

• Take off my skin - I won't cry, but you will! What am I? (An onion)

• There is an ancient invention still used in some parts of the world today that allows people to see through walls. What is it? (A window)

• What gets bigger the more you take away from it? (A hole)

• At night I come without being fetched. By day I am lost without being stolen. What am I? (A star)

• The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it? (Darkness)

• What must you keep after giving it to someone else? (A promise)

• What is lighter than a feather yet harder to hold? (Your breath) 

• If you have it, you want to share it. If you share it, you don't have it. What is it? (A secret.) 

• When you say my name I disappear. Who am I? (Silence)

• What is always coming, but never arrives? (Tomorrow)