The Chinese year 4712 — The Year of the Horse — begins Friday, Jan. 31, and Life Care Center of Hilo is planning a colorful cultural celebration in honor of the traditional Chinese New Year. ADVERTISING The Chinese year 4712
The Chinese year 4712 — The Year of the Horse — begins Friday, Jan. 31, and Life Care Center of Hilo is planning a colorful cultural celebration in honor of the traditional Chinese New Year.
Activities will begin 4 p.m., with dancers manipulating a beautifully designed dragon created by Doug Scheer for the Diamond Head Theater production of “Flower Drum Song.”
Life Care staffers invite the public.
Center employees will perform the dragon dance, followed by a red-ribbon dance performed by Ji Rong Kang-Gerrard, a keiki Chinese Zodiac Fashion Show performed by children of center employees, the Chinese song “Mo Lee Hua” performed by employees, a Mo Min Kuen Monkey Kung Fu demonstration and a Chinese Fortune Stick reading.
For additional information, contact the Life Care Center Activities Department at 959-9151.
In China, the start of each new year is a time for ancestor worship and family reunions, most significantly a feast on New Year’s Eve.
Under the lunar calendar, each month begins on the darkest day. New Year’s festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the 15th, when the moon is brightest.
Legend has it in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced the people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality, and many through the centuries found that to be true.
