Chinese New Year's Eve and New Holiday Moon

Tonight is Chinese New Year's Eve. In China, New Year's evening is called Ch’u-yeh, the "evening of discarding", because we can finally be done with the old year, and with winter.

This last day of the year is busy for Chinese families, because it’s the last chance to complete preparations and be ready to start the year fresh. When the running around is done, the family spends the rest of the day at home together -- family connections are the big theme for this holiday.

Tonight is also the new moon. This first new moon of the Chinese year is called the Holiday Moon, because it's the start of a month-long holiday season in China. The new moon is a time of high energy and clear thinking. Historically, the new moon is when women took time to be alone; it's a time to retreat, set intentions, and initiate something new.

Agenda:

1. Retreat Day

2. Choose a month theme

3. Set intentions

4. New moon altar and meditation

5. Thanksgiving ceremony

6. Welcoming ceremony

7. Have a family open house

1. Retreat Day:

If at all possible, I schedule a day of retreat on the new moon, or near to it: I do less talking, less business, and more personal thought and action. My retreat started yesterday, and will continue through this morning, with more writing and reading, and some sewing.

2. Choose a month theme:

At the new moon I choose a new theme to begin to give attention to. My theme this next 30 days is Receptivity and Love: I will be like the earth, accepting the seed and willing to nurture it. Receptivity requires that we be open and available, gentle, loving, and sweet; but it isn't a passive condition - receptivity requires that we do the work to care for what we receive, and have the strength to love without conditions.

Receptivity goals might have to do with improving my loving relationship with my family, or with enriching self-love, or being more openhearted, trusting, and generous. Also, I can use the image of being a fertile earth mother when I am nurturing something new in my life.

My love practices this month:

• Read and study loving-kindness, patience, and compassion books to gain skills.
• Try out different practices to find those that work to help me find the patience and compassion I need in the moment.
• Start a Love Journal, to record moments of receptivity as well as impatience and defensiveness.
• Hold grandmother tea parties, to share a new baby (when he is born).
• Make Medicine Art hearts for friends and for the Earth.

3. Set intentions:

Last week I brainstormed some wild and crazy ideas for the next 30-days, and today it's time to narrow it down a little, to the priority items that I could possibly focus on this next month. This isn't a list of the practical things I need to do this month; rather it's my top actions, studies, and growth goals that fit with the "taste" of this month of my life.

After I list my top goals for the next 30 days, I'm ready to set some intentions for action. I've written just two intentions, the ones I might act on today, and will write more later.

I intend to have the discipline to act persistently on my priorities, and finish things I start (seed charms, plastics outreach, gardening, housework, reading and writing), because my brilliant ideas won’t have any impact on the world unless I put them into form.

 

I intend to continue to research my lineage, going back to the early times before we became wanderers, discover my primal roots and nature affinities, and also my roots in the Willamette Valley, because roots are my connection to the deep places in my soul, to the past, and to the land I live on, and being rooted gives me a secure sense of who I am and where I belong, my feet on the ground and the earth steady. 

4. New moon altar and meditation:

It's time to clear my altar, and discern what to put on it for the next 30 days. (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-

• my straw doll - for luck and protection
• pine cones - for potential growth and enlightenment
• a sun - for the returning light after the solstice
• a dragonfly - for change, transformation, adaptability, and self-realization

Things I'm adding-

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

5. Thanksgiving ceremony:

Ch’u-yeh is a day of thanksgiving for the blessings of the old year. Chinese families fill this afternoon and evening with many ceremonies giving thanks-offerings to a variety of Chinese gods, to their own ancestors, and to the Spirits of the mountains, forests, and rivers. They light incense and candles, and place flowers, fruits, and other special foods on the altar; then they bow and offer sincere thanks.  

This ceremony is traditionally done in the afternoon, when other work is done. Today after lunch I will make myself a pot of tea, and settle on a cushion in my study.

1. I will light a small white candle, center myself, and feel myself fill with thankfulness for all I have now in my life.

2. I will offer a prayer of gratitude to my ancestors, and to the Spirits of the mountains, forests, and rivers, and God in all forms. 

3. Finally, I will send thanks for the blessings of the old year, and ask for an abundance of new blessings for the New Lunar Year.

6. Welcoming Ceremony:

Last week, on Little New year, we sent the Kitchen God and his wife to heaven in a fire. Today I will have a small ceremony to welcome the Kitchen God and his wife back home.

First I will make a new portrait using a copy of one I drew a few years ago, and color it with colored pencils.

Then I will hang it in the niche in my spice rack, light red candles, and have a moment of silence to think about ways I could improve.

This year I resolve to have more patience, and greater integrity with care of my home and land.

7. Have a family open house:

Traditionally, the whole family gathers tonight to share a grand feast, usually a whole chicken or fish to symbolize family togetherness. 

Anka and her new sister Permelia

This year we will not have a feast together, but I've decided to have a family "open house," so they can all drop over to snack from my Tray of Togetherness, visit my new duck Anka, and perhaps have some champagne to toast the new year!