Full Snow Moon and Lantern Festival

Darcy's first snow day!

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. Plenty of snow in the nearby hills though!

Tonight is also Yuan Xiao, the 15th and last day of the Chinese New Year Festival. This is the night that the full moon rises in China; 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 strength against the storm
4. Awareness Walk
5. Make tang yuan, sweet dumplings
6. Hang a lantern
7. Riddle guessing

1. Journal queries:

Write about ideas of change and new beginnings-
What is the hope I feel? 
What is the strongest fear?
What do I want to create in my life?

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? 

From last month I'm keeping:

• my harvest doll - for luck and protection
• a beaded snake - for healing and regeneration 

-and today I added:

• a spring green candle - for strength, vitality, and inner growth; a color to support change, and bring new ideas into being
• a dragon - for strength and good luck

3. Practice strength against the storm:

My theme this month is strength against the storm. 

Picture an unexpected storm; thunder shakes the earth and heavy spring rain falls- everything and everyone are surprised into creative action, and great changes are set in motion.

Shocks and sudden unforeseen problems cycle through my life like stormy weather. This is a difficult quality for me, very yang. The sudden distress scares me, but if I pause in the storm I will see that it's an invigorating place to be.

That's how I feel about the world today! This storm of an administration is the spark that has gotten me going, made me think and act persistently for peace and justice.

Just as I need my home to be in good repair to weather a storm, I need to be strong myself. When I am physically and mentally strong, I thrive on moving forward without the baggage of fears and grudges. My intentions this month:

• Finish the ceiling in the studio; create a shipshape space to teach and paint.
• Renew my discipline of healthy diet and exercise.
• Educate myself and take part in the local Climate Coalition.
• Start more seeds indoors and work in my garden a little bit everyday.
• Paint with tenacity; finish new work to post on Etsy.

4. Awareness Walk:

This month as I focus on vitality and strength I will again practice this walking meditation each morning- and add in awareness of ki. 

Ki is an Asian concept that translates to "energy, life-force, spirit, or breath." It’s the Cosmic Power that flows out from the center of the Universe and returns back to the center.

1. Physical Awareness: Begin my walk, and concentrate on my feet as they touch the ground, the feel of my muscles, my breathing, my surroundings, the breeze, the sky. Center my weight low and maintain balance as I walk. Continue this for 1-2 blocks. 

2. Heart Awareness: Turn a corner, and focus on my tender heart. Feel it soften and open. Send loving thoughts to my neighbors as I walk by their homes, to my family, to my community, to the world. Become aware of ki as feeling. Continue this for 1-2 blocks. 

3. Mindfulness: Turn another corner, and pay attention to my thoughts. Make an effort to open my mind to the ambiguity of the moment, and my life. Become aware of ki as intuition. Continue this for 1-2 blocks. 

4. Spiritual Awareness: Turn the last corner, and (holding on to the awareness I've raised) speak a prayer out loud as I’m moving; feel the power and energy move through me. Say “Spirit of the Universe, I am open and awake to whatever comes into my life today. I am a limitless being, accepting from a limitless source, in an infinite way. I am incredibly blessed.”

4. Make tang yuan, sweet dumplings:

It is a tradition to eat these round sticky dumplings today 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.

Sweet rice flour and black sesame seeds

Ingredients:
Sesame filling

• 1/4 c. raw black sesame seeds
• 1/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter
• red bean paste (optional)

Dumplings

•  2 c. glutinous or sweet rice flour
• 3/4 c. cold water
• food color (optional)

Ginger syrup

• 2 c. water
• 2-inch knob of ginger-root
• 1/2 c. sugar 

Yield: 20 dumplings-

1- Toast the sesame seeds in a small skillet over low heat for 3-4 minutes, shaking the pan and stirring continuously to keep the seeds from burning. They will begin to smell aromatic and they might start to pop. Grind seeds into a fine powder (a coffee grinder works well). 

2- Mix sesame powder with butter and sugar in a pot, and warm just until they form a thick paste. If the butter melts too much you might need to put the pot in the freezer for a few minutes. 

3- Form into 20 tiny balls and place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You can also form balls of red bean paste now, if you want, or skip the sesame and just make the bean filling. Freeze balls for about 30 minutes.

4- Meanwhile, put the rice flour in a bowl and mix with a little water at a time until it holds together and is soft like play-doh. Knead together until smooth. (If it's too sticky, add more flour, and if it's too dry, add more water.) 

Divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal portions; leave one portion white and add a drop or two of food color to the others, if desired. Knead again until the color is even. Cover and set aside.

5- In a small pot, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Smash the ginger root with a mallet, add it to the small pot, and boil for 10-15 minutes on medium heat. Add the sugar to taste (about 1/2 cup) and boil for another 5 minutes. Remove the root, lower the heat, and simmer until the syrup is a bit thickened.

Black sesame seed balls (left) and dumplings (right).

6- Heat up a large pot of water to boiling. Divide and roll the dough into 20 round balls. Pat one into a flat disk. Place a sesame seed ball in the center, and gently pinch the dough around the ball to completely cover. (If the dough feels dry, dip your fingers in water before shaping it.) Keep dumplings covered until you get them all made.

Dumplings beginning to float to the top.

7- Carefully drop the dumplings into the large pot of boiling water (only cook as many as you plan to eat now - you can freeze the rest). Use a wooden spoon to nudge dumplings so they don’t stick on the bottom. Boil gently for about 5 minutes.

8- When the dumplings float to the top of the water, add 1 cup of cold water (this will keep the skins from splitting), and cook for another three minutes. 

Scoop them out with a sieve and divide them into small bowls. Add the ginger syrup and serve immediately.

5. 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.


6. 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)