The Chinese new year is on Friday 24 January 2020

It will be called the year of the metal rat.

Predicting what will happen for you the rest of the year in one or two sentences is silly. If you are a rat, then there is plenty of info around.
 

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar.

Although it occurs in the winter, it is called the Spring Festival or the "start of spring," marking the end of the coldest part of winter, when the Chinese traditionally look forward to the beginning of spring.

This date is not set like our Gregorian calendar, which only partly works with the rhythm of nature. Our calendar was a relatively successful attempt by that pope to align countries with different calendars as well as keep easter in the same place of the year.

The history of calendrical reform has been shaped by the egos of emperors, disputes among churches, the insights of astronomers and mathematicians, and immutable geopolitical realities. 

The Gregorian calendar tries to "correct" some of the timing issues of the Julian calendar. Now we just have a leap year, instead of missing a few days every now and then.

The traditional Chinese calendar (officially known as the Agricultural Calendar ), is a lunisolar calendar which reckons years, months and days according to astronomical phenomena.

In agriculture, it helps to stay on track with the moons' phases, farming is more productive when utilizing the difference between rising and lowering moon. Time of sowing and harvesting is simplified.

From a qigong and healthy eating and general lifestyle point of view, keeping a calendar in line with the influence of the heavenly bodies makes it easier to manipulate our health.

E.G. In spring we stimulate the liver. The best time to be asleep is when the sun is directly above or below us (ie no daylight saving time).

So, even though we use the Gregorian calendar, Traditional Chinese Medicine keeps a close eye on the luni solar calendar.

Join us in the Chinese new year. We will work on Twin Dragons Qigong.

It's lightly stretchy and goes back as far in time as when new year celebrations began in China, which is believed to have originated as early as 2,300BC with Emperors Yao and Shun.


Keep on belly breathing,

Mark

Details of times/venues http://www.markvandam.com/lessons/