Happy Chinese New Year
2017
The year of the Rooster...
Hello my friends:
Living in North California, and so close to San Francisco is no way that you can avoid this big celebration in Chinese culture, which is a festival following the lunar calendar.
The Chinese new year calendar is represented by 12 animals according the year on which you were born:
so if you were born in 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017… you are then a Rooster.
Each Chinese zodiac year begins on Chinese New Year's Day.
And it happens to be that... I am a Rooster, so here it is the card That I made for good luck and to be hang at the entrance of my craft room ...
Note: taken From Wikipedia:
"The San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade is the oldest and largest event of its kind outside of Asia, and the largest Asian cultural event in North America.
[...] In 1849, with the discovery of gold and the ensuing California Gold Rush, over 50,000 people had come to San Francisco to seek their fortune or just a better way of life. Among those were many Chinese, who had come to work in the gold mines and on the railroad. By the 1860s, the residents of San Francisco's Chinatown were eager to share their culture with their fellow San Francisco residents who may have been unfamiliar with (or hostile towards) it. The organizers chose to showcase their culture by using a favorite American tradition – the parade. They invited a variety of other groups from the city to participate, and they marched down what today are Grant Avenue and Kearny Street carrying colorful flags, banners, lanterns, drums and firecrackers to drive away evil spirits. In San Francisco, over 100 units participate in the annual Chinese New Year Parade held since 1958. The parade is attended by some 500,000 people along with another 3 million TV viewers"
Close up of my door
The flowers are plastic decorations that can be removed form the door ...
and here it is hanging at my entrance;
red and gold are typical Chinese colors and supposedly the red is the color for this years' rooster good luck...
During this time is customary to give away little red envelopes with money among the members of your family, have gift exchanges specially food items, the markets are full with decorations and food items to celebrate the new lunar year and here in the "Bay Area of San Francisco" is customary to go and see the Chinese parades and celebrations...we always celebrate by eating Chinese food and watching the parades...
a last view of my door
I made more that one card and I am planning to give it to my "Rooster", friends!!!
Close up of the rooster die
on one corner I placed some red flowers
and on the other a Chinese coin with the year
with some metal corners that I got form my friend ATHENA, see her blog HERE
last view
I hope you enjoyed my card...
Thanks for the company
wishing you a lucky and prosperous New Year!
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