Christmas flowers reminders for everyone

    Weirdly enough, the other day when I'd looked at my lucky clovers, they hadn't shown a breeding link. Not sure why they would have been. They were supposed to start producing lucky clovers a few days ago, though... but when I finally saw a "breed" link and tried it, I got a regular clover even though it was supposed to be within the holiday breeding window. I'm leery of trying again until I get verification that they're really available. :-/

    Edit: They're available! I spotted one in the wild garden, so I tried breeding again and this time it worked! :D

    I'm kind of grateful for that. It means that I can focus on catching up on things I missed, and breeding for/gifting to others, without fretting over whether I have a chance at catching all the new things. That feels a whole lot merrier to me. :)

    Quote from georgexu94


    :P You could just have said Christmas Old Man (圣诞老人.)

    lol I like that translation xDD

    Quote from georgexu94


    Well, truth be told that since this is my first time to go to China for Christmas, I will admit that I miss the Philippine Christmas festivities and traditions like simbang gabi (listening to evening Holy Mass), Noche Buena (Christmas Eve feast that lasts until midnight of Christmas) and the like. In China, they do not celebrate Christmas at all! Well, perhaps some people but I do not know.

    True, we don't celebrate Christmas... But I believe Christians will still celebrate it. It depends on where you look into. Those big shopping malls should have some related decorations, but only the decorations, or pehaps some musics, aren't they?
    You should go for Spring Festival, which is the biggest festival (and also, the longest vacation for working people) in China :p


    -Currently learning German-
    <3

    We in the west call it Chinese New Year. Lots of old calendars and civilizations started the year at the beginning of Spring. Interestingly, the seasons used to be reckoned differently. The first day of Spring was Candlemas (Groundhog Day) and the Vernal Equinox marked the mid-point of Spring. First day of Summer was May Day, and the Summer Solstice was then Midsummer. First day of fall was Lammastide (celebrating the first fruits of the harvest), and the Autumnal Equinox was considered mid-Fall. And winter commenced with a festival marking the "dying of the year" at All Hallow's (when many of the ancient civilizations also remembered and honored their ancestors). The Winter Solstice was mid-Winter, which marked the "rebirth of the light" (days getting longer again). Interesting how these holidays and seasonal landmarks have evolved, hm?

    Yeah it's Chinese New Year. It will be in 19th Febrary, 2015.
    And since froglady mentioned seasons, mid-autumn is another festival in China as well. It's 15th August in Lunar calender (which is always in September accordingly). Yeah the seasonal festivals are very interesting, especially considering how many different method used to celebrate them (or not) in different countries.

    You do know a lot, froglady :)


    -Currently learning German-
    <3

    I work with people from Mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea and the Philippines, so that's how I know about Chinese New Year (and about the moon festival in mid-Autumn as well). I studied Latin in high school and most of my college social sciences credits consisted of studying Ancient History and Civilizations, Roman, Greek, Native American and European Mythology and Comparative Religions (just because I was interested in those subjects). The rest I've picked up here and there along the way.

    I love food and learning about different cultures, so I seem to consume a lot of long noodles, oranges, tea eggs, century eggs and moon cakes during the course of the year (not to mention Christmas enchiladas and Dia de los Muertos sweets). I've lived in SF Bay, California for about 13 years, so there's a large Asian community here. There's also a large Hispanic community, with their Day of the Dead at All Hallow's time (when days become much shorter than nights). It's a celebration of the lives of the departed, a time of remembrance, and not a scary day at all, unlike our Hallowe'en. Many of the Christian church holidays were shifted around on the calendar to coincide with the traditions of peoples being converted to ease the transition. Some Christian holidays actually absorbed some of the imagery and traditions of the existing religions, with different meanings ascribed to them--again, to disturb people's family traditions as little as possible. And some Christian holidays were created solely to give worshipers of other religions an alternative to their "old gods". Easter bunnies and eggs, Christmas trees, holly wreaths, trick or treat are all old pagan symbols/traditions. Candlemas and Lammastide and All Hallow's Day are some of the "created" holidays. Christmas may have had its date determined by the relative ease of merging the symbolism of the Son with the Sun, as many Bible scholars believe that the circumstances of Jesus' birth fit more into March/April than December. The ancient Romans, for instance, had Saturnalia at the Winter Solstice...a two-week long celebration of the return of the sun to the sky marked by celebrations, feasting, gifts to friends and relatives, days off work, slaves receiving gifts from and being served by their masters (Boxing Day, anyone?), etc. There were similar traditions all across Europe at the time, so some of the symbolism and traditions kind of got rolled into Christmas and New Year's. Traditions and symbolism mean whatever we think they mean, no matter where they came from originally, so it's pretty much a moot point who started what, unless it just interests you as a matter of study. Yeah, I know, I'm an egghead.