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2012: The Year Of The Dragon
NOTE: The following is an email sent by one of my clients, and as such, there is no link, and it is not subject to DU's "4 paragraph" rule.
He is a survivor of Hiroshima. He was five years old and lived close to "ground zero" when the bomb was dropped. He lost most of his friends and family on that day...the remainder followed over the next weeks and months as a result of injuries they had sustained.
He's had a pretty amazing journey, which is another story for another time. Today, I felt his reflections on the year ahead were powerful, and I wanted to share them with you.
Happy New Year,
A.V.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
~ THE YEAR OF DRAGON ~
2012
The greatest holiday of the nation of Japan is the New Year. “SHIN-NEN”, each coming of the New Year, signifies “new generation to generation”, welcoming prosperous life— longevity!
In every household usual preparation s are made to celebrate the holiday in the most joyful manner, and business is suspended so far as possible during the period. House are cleaned thoroughly and formally on New Year’s eve, the brooms bound with red and white strings as a seal against their use the lest the Gods of Good Luck, with the New Year brings into the houses, should be startled out of it by the bustle.
One of notable manner in which there is no day in Japan quite like during the holiday—the New Year, two days or even five days (January 1 through 5), FRIENDLINESS is the keynote of this season.
· All enmity is forgotten for the nonce, if not forgiven forever, and foes of yesterday are friends at this time.
· “Callers” leave cards at the houses of their friends and acquaintances, wishing a “Happy New Year.”
· Greeting of “Shin-nen Omedeto Gozai masu” (A Happy New Year, even the strangers on the streets have become the universal practice throughout Japan, as it has become the part of Japanese traditions.
· So universal is this custom that you will it is
May I wish you all a “Happy New Year”, the Year of Dragon?
The “dragon”, as one of description, for instance, characterizes it as a “composite monster-creature” with scowling head, long straight horns, a scaly serpentine body, a bristling row of dorsal spine, four limbs ared with claws, and curious fame-like appendages on its shoulders and hips. The claws are usually three on each foot, but are sometimes four and even five. Another descrition calls it essentially a serpent, “with the horns of a deer, the head of a horse, eyes like a devil, neck like a snake, belly like that of a red worm, scales like those of a carp—‘koi’, ears like a cow, paws like a tiger, and claws like an eagle.” (There is none like any creature can anything be more composite?) It is said to be “all powerful, for it is possessed of the strongest characteristics of each of the creatures from which it is formed.
It is the symbol of “totality” of characters—qualities that each “child” born and would be nurtured throughout earthly life! May we also develop such characters to become who we really are!
~ THE YEAR OF DRAGON ~
2012
The greatest holiday of the nation of Japan is the New Year. “SHIN-NEN”, each coming of the New Year, signifies “new generation to generation”, welcoming prosperous life— longevity!
In every household usual preparation s are made to celebrate the holiday in the most joyful manner, and business is suspended so far as possible during the period. House are cleaned thoroughly and formally on New Year’s eve, the brooms bound with red and white strings as a seal against their use the lest the Gods of Good Luck, with the New Year brings into the houses, should be startled out of it by the bustle.
One of notable manner in which there is no day in Japan quite like during the holiday—the New Year, two days or even five days (January 1 through 5), FRIENDLINESS is the keynote of this season.
· All enmity is forgotten for the nonce, if not forgiven forever, and foes of yesterday are friends at this time.
· “Callers” leave cards at the houses of their friends and acquaintances, wishing a “Happy New Year.”
· Greeting of “Shin-nen Omedeto Gozai masu” (A Happy New Year, even the strangers on the streets have become the universal practice throughout Japan, as it has become the part of Japanese traditions.
· So universal is this custom that you will it is
May I wish you all a “Happy New Year”, the Year of Dragon?
The “dragon”, as one of description, for instance, characterizes it as a “composite monster-creature” with scowling head, long straight horns, a scaly serpentine body, a bristling row of dorsal spine, four limbs ared with claws, and curious fame-like appendages on its shoulders and hips. The claws are usually three on each foot, but are sometimes four and even five. Another descrition calls it essentially a serpent, “with the horns of a deer, the head of a horse, eyes like a devil, neck like a snake, belly like that of a red worm, scales like those of a carp—‘koi’, ears like a cow, paws like a tiger, and claws like an eagle.” (There is none like any creature can anything be more composite?) It is said to be “all powerful, for it is possessed of the strongest characteristics of each of the creatures from which it is formed.
It is the symbol of “totality” of characters—qualities that each “child” born and would be nurtured throughout earthly life! May we also develop such characters to become who we really are!