Hello Contributors!
Just a reminder that the dates to qualify for a Lunar New Year event badge are fast approaching!
To earn a “Year of the Snake” badge, you need to make at least 100 contribution points from Wednesday, January 29 @ 00:00 UTC – to Tuesday, Feb 4 @ 11:59:00 UTC.
** Convert UTC to your local time zone here. **
By now you’ve come to understand that Lunar New Year is about joy and togetherness but it’s also about bringing in good fortune and luck. This is done by adhering to certain taboos and superstitions but also by eating certain lucky foods!
- Dumplings for wealth: Dumplings have been eaten during Lunar New Year celebrations for centuries. They are shaped to resemble gold ingots and legend has it that the more you eat, the more money you’ll make in the new year!
- Whole Fish for prosperity: Fish is phonetically similar to “abundance” in Chinese so serving a fish whole is a way to manifest prosperity, and “a good surplus every year”. When serving, the head of the fish should always be pointed towards your most distinguished guest.
- Longevity Noodles for happiness: These long and uncut noodles (sometimes over a foot in length!) symbolize the wish for longevity of the eater’s life. Longevity noodles can be traced back to the Han Dynasty and there is a folk tale of an Emperor who heard that a long face leads to a long life. Since he couldn’t change his face, he decided to eat long noodles since the word noodles is similar to the word face in Chinese.
Sending you love, luck, and happiness as we step into the Year of the Snake!
