Partial solar eclipse and another New Year
Currently in the world, along with political and social events, are the natural, interpretive, and cultural ones, too. We live in a busy time in our galaxy, and I wanted to take a moment to wish you once again a Happy New Year, [Gung Hay Fat Choy], and invite you to take a moment to contemplate the universe.
Here is a great site to explore the partial solar eclipse going on now, and able to be seen in parts of New Zealand and Australia.
For an astrological perspective on how this natural event affects and intersects with Politics, go here.
Chinese New Year 4706 is here! I wrote elsewhere that my extended family celebrates this holiday, and it works as a better “New Year” celebration for me, personally, than does January 1st, because I’ve had some time to settle down after the frenzy of late December, and look at things from a quieter perspective. This blog does a great job of outlining some aspects of the Year of the Rat, including things we can make and do to celebrate.
And do see my friend Walkingbetween‘s great post and links about this year. Apparently, this is an “Earth Rat” year! Time to get grounded, folks! 😀
Here’s a New Year’s Quiz!
MusEditions 
kong hei fatt choy! san nin fai lok!
sulz
February 7, 2008
muse thanks! Happy New Year! Since I’m northern Chinese, instead of saying “Gung Hay Fat Choy” (Cantonese), let me say “Guo Nian Hao” (mandarin) to you…!!
walkingbetween
February 7, 2008
sulz, & Walking, thank you for your greetings, and also for your contributions. I’m fascinated by transliterations from different parts of the world. Here’s yours, sulz from my earlier post: “kong hei fatt choy in cantonese or gong xi fa cai in mandarin.” It looks like “san nin fai lok!” is Malay? yes? And walkingbetween, you have given us “Guo Nian Hao”, Mandarin from northern China. It looks very different to me from sulz‘s Mandarin–is it different words? Is it all the same when written in Chinese language? I have a lot to learn, since I only knew a little Cantonese from San Francisco.
By the way, I added a quiz this morning. (I got 7/10!)
museditions
February 7, 2008
Kong hei fatt choy!
Please forgive me for stealing sulz’s spelling; I’ve never seen it written in Roman letters before, and I don’t speak Chinese! I completely forgot it was the Chinese New Year today, actually, and I haven’t been wearing anything red; in fact I’ve been wearing all black, so if I were Chinese that would probably mean bad luck!
B0bbyG
February 7, 2008
Hi there and Happy Lunar New Year to all. 🙂
P.S. I got 3 answers wrong on the quiz.
brightfeather
February 7, 2008
oh, i’ve some explaining to do. 😛 xin nian kuai le and san nin fai lok means happy new year in mandarin and cantonese respectively. however, we don’t usually say that as a greeting, but rather gong xi fa cai or kong hei fatt choy (in mandarin and cantonese again). it translates to ‘wishing you prosperity,’ where fatt choy means prosperity and kong hei means congratulate.
in malay, we say selamat tahun baru cina! (happy chinese new year)
walkingbetween’s greeting is the first i’ve seen. nian means year, and hao means good. so it does runs along the idea of happy new year, i should think? well, this just shows how diverse the chinese population can be too. not surprising, when there’s like, oh, a billion of us running around the world.
sulz
February 7, 2008
I don’t think you’ll have bad luck, Bobby, you’re just not quite as festive as sulz and walkingbetween and I. 🙂 Anyway you can still wear red if you want to during the next few days…Thanks for the wishes, in any translation!
Hi brightfeather—lunar new year too. Such a lot going on astrologically, energetically–whew! Let’s see, on the quiz I got 7 right, and you got 3 wrong, and there are 10 questions—hey, we got the same score! 😀
Thanks so much for the further explanations, sulz! I admit I don’t know what Malay looks like written out, although I’m pretty sure I’d be able to distinguish it from spoken Chinese dialect if I heard it. 😕 Your translations are very helpful. I didn’t know about the other emphases in different areas, so I’m pleased that walkingbetween left a greeting here too. Yes, there certainly are a lot of you folks! (Yay!)
museditions
February 7, 2008
Interesting links, thanks! Between yours and Walkingbetween’s, I’ve learned all sorts of stuff and haven’t even taken the quiz yet. Foods associated with my sign (dragon) are wheat and poultry; who knew?
ellaella
February 8, 2008
muse, Gong Xi Fa Cai and Guo Nian Hao looked different because they are two different phrases (the former like sulz said means “wish you prosperty (or more money:)” and the latter means “happy new year”). In the north (at least the area i was living) we don’t usually say Gong Xi Fa Cai (while it’s very common saying in the south), we simply greet each other with “Guo Nian Hao”. It’s like a “How are you” greeting at new year time.
Sometimes you can say both together, “Guo Nian Hao, Gong Xi Fa Cai”, they are not exclusive, and we do that too.
Hope I didn’t confuse you further more. 🙂 Just think when there are billions of people in such a large country, there bound to be variations, or how boring would it be!
😀
walkingbetween
February 8, 2008
ellaella, I’m so glad you enjoyed all the information. I grew up with the parades and celebrations, but I’m learning now how much I didn’t know. And wheat and poultry! You certainly engage well with those foods, and are kind enough to help the rest of us do so.
walkingbetween, please don’t think you added to confusion! I’m very grateful that you came back and are willing to share your greetings with the rest of us. I have learned much from you and sulz this holiday. I like the “how are you” greeting at the new year—it’s very friendly. I agree, it would be boring if we were all the same. One of the reasons I like blogging so much is I get to meet lovely people like you and learn more about culture. 🙂
museditions
February 8, 2008
[…] I’d missed the large celebrations we had in San Francisco, where I grew up, as I’ve posted elsewhere. When a cultural background is used to facilitate both cultural identity—which gives one a […]
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