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December 17, 2005 From the Director NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS AROUND THE WORLD New Year celebrations occur round the globe each month of the year. While dates are dictated by local growing seasons and often vary with the moon, all New Year festivals focus on abundance, with customs that insure a prosperous future. I have celebrated the New Year in some seven cultures, at home and abroad: Western on January 1, Vietnamese/Chinese timed to the new moon in January or February, Lao-Cambodian in mid April, Hmong Lao between November and January, the Jewish lunar New Year in September or October, and the Russian Christmas/New Year on January 1. CHINESE/VIETNAMESE CELEBRATIONS On JANUARY 29 2006, determined by a lunar cycle that spans January & February, from Beijing to Boston, Hanoi to Hancock, folks of Chinese and Vietnamese heritage will welcome the Year of the Red Fire Dog. "Tet" literally means "spring festival," but the lunar cycle has moved winterward over centuries; farmers tend their orchards to "force" peach blossoms for the variable New Year. Asians "an tet," or "eat the new year," enduring days of rich banquets. Firecrackers at midnight scare away evil spirits and leave "red snow" wrappings, not swept up for three days. Chinese/Vietnamese astrology spans twelve years, each with an animal sign. The dog is a good birth sign as those born in this year are loyal, trustworthy, and work well with others. Participants scrub their homes (and themselves!), pay off debts, bring plum or peach blooms inside instead of an evergreen, and prepare food so that Mother has three days off from cooking. They buy lunar calendars, stuff money gifts into red envelopes for children who buy firecrackers at once! At midnight, fruit and incense are offered at the red shelf high on the wall in each kitchen so that the kitchen god will give a good report of the family's doings this year. This is a time for renewing bonds between people. After a smoky fusillade of firecrackers at midnight, people don their newest clothes to visit grandparents on the first of the three-day celebration. Later, they visit employers and friends. Banh Tet, steamed dumplings with various fillings, circulate as gifts, sometimes back to the hands of the original giver! Asian New Year is a good time to predict your future ‹ consult a professional, shake one printed fortune stick from a bamboo container, or bribe a chicken to peck your written fortune from an array of paper. Some Europeans share the same customs - Salzburg exchange students told us they melt lead over a candle and drop it into water, predicting the future from the cooled shape - Rohrshach style! RUSSIAN NEW YEAR Unexpectedly, Russian New Year follows many Chinese and Vietnamese traditions, with fireworks instead of firecrackers; one must pay off debts and spend the day peacefully, without a raised voice or argument: as the new year begins, so will it continue. When toasting, vodka replaces Western champagne and Asian rice wine. In both Asia and Russia, polka dots are popular holiday wear because they resemble coins and attract money! Under 75 years of Communism, a decorated evergreen with presents from Father Frost on January 1st instead of December 25th secularized Christmas and combined it with New Year. Small, practical family gifts, like hand-knitted socks or mittens, are exchanged. Each family has its own special foods. LAO, THAI, and CAMBODIAN NEW YEAR The Lao/Thai/Cambodian New Year is in the hottest month, April, and is a rowdy celebration with water splashing and blessings rather than fireworks. Everything and everyone is washed and blessed, including statues of the Buddha and the oldest people in town, who smile broadly at the honor. Buckets of water are thrown at passersby, strangers, and good friends alike. Everyone visits the temple with offerings and cooked food for the monks, and buckets of sand to replace what has been carried away on pilgrim's shoes throughout the year. The Hmong [mountain tribal people of Southeast Asia resettled in the US after the Vietnam War] in Minneapolis, Fresno and Fitchburg celebrate New Year after their harvest, between November and January. In the highlands of Laos, they carry sun parasols and wear new indigo appliquéd & batiked clothes, startlingly bright minus the dust of a year's farm work. Celebration includes meat dishes, bamboo kheng music, rice wine, and a courtship game where teenagers from different villages meet‹girls' and boys' teams stand parallel and toss a cloth ball. Whoever misses sings a witty song teasing the other side. These days, rock bands are popular, where there is electricity for the amplifiers! BRAZILIAN NEW YEAR In Brazil, people dress in fancy white clothing to represent purity and spend New Year's evening at the oceanside. They nestle candles in the sand to remember those who have died and toss coins and paper money into the sea to guarantee prosperity. WESTERN NEW YEAR I see an evolving tradition in need of more meaningful ritual. Many party, toast with champagne, blow noisemakers at midnight, wear silly hats, or listen for the church bells. In the South, some eat black-eyed peas, assuring abundance like Asian polka dots. Austrian families waltz in the New Year, all ages, daughters learning on father's toes. On New Year's Day in America, people may attend church, sleep late, watch parades, and tune in for an afternoon of naps, chips and football. As in Asia, New Year in the West insures a prosperous new year but through self-improvement and good resolutions, not luck. The ritual of resolutions may come from the Judeo-Christian heritage of many. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish lunar New Year in September, sweetens months to come with apples dipped in honey but also ushers in introspection, choosing how one wants to be inscribed in "the Book of Life" for Yom Kippur year 5633, the Day of Atonement. Customs evolve locally. In Peterborough, we walk a meditative labyrinth from Chartres Cathedral laid out across the Townhouse floor with tape, pencil, and geometry. My family adopts customs that resonate: my favorite is "the lucky person" ‹ in Asia, the first person to cross your hearth on the New Year brings you luck all year! The untrusting may prearrange a visit by a respected friend. As for me, I'll take the surprise! Readers, please write me your own family rituals, especially Moslem traditions for Al Hijra, the mid-winter New Year. To learn more about worldwide holidays from Diwali to Day of the Dead, visit Mariposa Museum & World Culture Center in person or online at www.mariposamuseum.org. See weekly culture performance Sundays at 2pm. The Museum prepares school/homeschool tours anytime and is open weekdays from noon to 5 pm, Saturdays 10 am to 4 pm and Sundays, noon to 4 pm. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for ages 2-15. It's a wonderful place for families to interact together, put on a puppet show, play an instrument, dance in a costume, and so much more! Please Touch! Bring a camera - and a grandparent! Craft: A RESOLUTION LANTERN For children and adults seeking to put more meaning into New Year's Day: Create a resolution lantern from a brown paper lunch bag. Use cut-outs, drawings, or tissue paper to decorate the bag. On the bag write in crayon, marker, or sparkle glue an intention that you will work on in 2006. Line the bag with sand with a small candle inside. Line your walkway with your family's luminaria and light them at dusk. May the light carry your intentions to the stars and help you fulfill them! Sincerely,  Linda Marsella, Director Mariposa Museum & World Culture Center 26 Main Street Peterborough, NH 03458 "From the Director" Archive New Year Celebrations Around The World - December, 2005 Holiday Message - December, 2005 Miscellaneous - October, 2005 Miscellaneous - September, 2005 Letter of Thanks - August, 2005 Mariposa at the Crossroads - July, 2005 Call for Entries - July 2005 Ark Sets Sail in spring floods! - April 2005 New Year Around the Globe - February 2005 Mariposa Turns Two! - July 2004 other cultures, the world will know more peace and less war. 
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