Upcoming Events in Tea Culture

January 26, 2009 marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar Year 4707
The year of the Bull

Lunar New Year is the most important Chinese Celebration, also called the Spring Festival. This date signifies a fresh start in one's life, in the same way spring brings vitality in nature. This is a time for reunion and also represents renewal of the spirit. In Ancient times people lived a frugal lifestyle and New Year's was a time for delicacies.

Today we celebrate with some of the ancient rituals such as Spring Cleaning, Reunion Dinners, Staying up Late, Red Packets (hongbao) given to unmarried people by married people as a symbol of celebration and good fortune or Exchanging “Mandarin Oranges” when visiting friends. Often people will bring along two or four mandarin oranges as gifts. In the Cantonese dialect, “mandarin orange” sounds like “gold”. Giving mandarin oranges is likened to the giving of gold.

All around the world we also see wonderful New Year or Lunar Festivals and parades. In San Francisco you will you see a lunar new year parade with gorgeous floats, elaborate costumes, ferocious lions, exploding firecrackers , and of course the newly crowned Miss Chinatown U.S.A. and her court. A crowd favorite is the spectacular 201' Golden Dragon ("Gum Lung") It takes a team of over 100 men and women from the martial arts group, White Crane to carry this dragon throughout the streets of San Francisco.