Preparing For the Year of The Sheep

The Chinese New Year, one of the grandest and most important holidays of the year, is arriving February 19th, so before then there are some key things you can do to prepare! The Chinese New Year, sometimes referred to as the Chinese Spring Festival, has been celebrated for more than 4,000 years, originating during the Shang Dynasty in the 17th to 11th century BC. As you probably suspected, a holiday dating back that far in history comes with many traditions. A number of the traditions, of course, revolve around the time period when the holiday has officially begun, but some of them involve the days or even weeks beforehand. After all, a holiday this important requires some preparation! 

A huge part of the preparation and celebration of the New Year is to ensure that the upcoming year is a year filled with luck and happiness, so how exactly does one prepare to make their year the best one possible? Certain traditions repeat each New Year, but others depend on the Zodiac sign that will be represented during the upcoming year. 2015 welcomes the Year of the Sheep, more specifically the Year of the Wooden Sheep, so several of the preparations for this holiday will be unique from ones in the past. 

The key to winning the attention and empathy of the Wooden Sheep for a year of good luck and happiness is to understand what the Year of the Wooden Sheep means. As Eileen Wacker points out in her article, “Get Ready! The Sheep Are Coming”, the sheep are the artists of the Zodiac. They are kind, sweet, and generous. As a sensitive creature, the sheep is happy when surrounded by kindness and peace. If you know someone who is a sheep (anyone turning 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, or 72 this year), tell them you love them and you will be rewarded with loyalty and passion. 

In addition to the Five Elements, (Earth, wind, fire, water, and wood), colors are also often represented as part of the Zodiac signs. Since the sheep is a herbivore, green is the color that will be represented this year. This means that this year, all things green are good (yes, even vegetables for our picky eaters!). In the coming weeks of the New Year, drink green tea and embrace the peace and serenity that the sheep loves so much. 

The next way to prepare for the Year of the Sheep is a crucial one. Despite the association of sheep with farms, the sheep does not like anything to be dirty, but is rather quite a tidy animal. To please the sheep and welcome a year of good luck, be sure to de-clutter your home and office. Make room for the good luck to come by dusting and sweeping your entire home. In addition, clean out your closets and make sure the entrance way to your home is well lit. 

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The next way to prepare for the New Year is a tricky one if you live in a cold part of the world, but still just as important. For a period of time each day all the way till February 19th, open your windows. This allows the “stale air of the past” to exit your home and invites the fresh air of new opportunities to flow inside. 

Use the time before the holiday to do some soul searching. Set some goals and figure out what you would like to accomplish this year. Remembering that the sheep loves peace, serenity, and kindness, avoid being moody and pessimistic this year. Also knowing that the sheep also loves generosity, perhaps donate things you don’t use anymore or don’t need while you are decluttering your home. Being as kind and positive as possible in the weeks leading up to the holiday will increase your chances of good fortune during this upcoming year. 

ONCEKids Publishing is run by literacy advocate and Mompreneur Eileen Wacker.  Click here to find her acclaimed books

The History Behind One of Japan's Oldest Holiday Traditions: Girl's Day

With the ending of February and the coming of March, we can look forward to a transition from the long and cold winter into the beginning of the spring months. The coming of spring not only means welcoming warmer weather, but also a season full of fun and traditional festivals and holidays throughout Asia. One of the first spring holidays in Japan is just around the corner! On March 3rd, people around Japan will be celebrating the festival known as Girl’s Day. 

Also referred to as the Doll Festival or Hinamatsuri, Girl’s Day is one of the oldest known holiday traditions in Japan. The annual celebration first began during the Heian Period, which dates all the way back to 794! The people of the ancient villages began first by displaying the beautifully crafted dolls in their homes, believing that they possessed the capacity to ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune. It then became customary to engage in a custom known as hina-nagashi. This practice called for people to place the dolls into boats and push the boats out to sea, with the belief that the dolls would carry the bad spirits away with them. 

The Doll Festival has also become referred to as Girl’s Day because during the Heian Period, and still today, it was popular for many of the little girls to play with dolls. The dolls were so loved that they even became seen as the protectors or caretakers of the girls, even marriage. 

warding off bad spirits and keeping a watchful eye on their owner throughout her childhood, adolescence, courtship, and

Each year as the hand-crafted dolls are displayed, it reminds the people of Japan of an almost millennia-old custom. If you are looking to get a taste of the rich culture and history of Japan, there is no better time than during this beautiful display of Japanese history. 

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