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Memorial Day hasn’t been around too long — only about since the late 1800s which is pretty short relative to the history of tea drinking — but it has quickly become a time for picnics and celebrating. Those celebrations honor bravery and people who fought. Making tea a part of that celebration can be a brave thing to do.
U.S. flags flying high on Memorial Day!
Some folks out there are convinced that tea is not a very “manly” beverage. I say, “Hey, drink what you like!” Lots of men like tea. They’re just concerned about the public image tea has in some circles. Including tea in your Memorial Day picnic, tailgate party, or massive cookout featuring a team of grill champions will be very manly and very celebratory.
Some teas to have with manly Memorial Day celebration foods:
- Pure beef burgers and plump hotdogs (grilled just the way you like ’em and served up on buttered, grilled buns) — go for Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Kenyan, or Nilgiri.
- Slabs of ribs (barbecued to perfection using either a rich tomato sauce or a tangy vinegar-based sauce) — select from Ceylon, Gunpowder, and Yunnan.
- Vegan Kabobs (chunks of green bell pepper, sweet onions, cherry tomatoes, fresh pineapple, and mushroom caps) — If you go more spicy on the kabobs, try Assam or Kenyan, maybe even Yunnan.
- Heavy duty potato salad (unskinned red potatoes, diced sweet gherkins, mayonnaise, mustard, dill, and even some diced sweet onions if you are so inclined) — serve up some Ceylon black tea, a nice Darjeeling, a Nilgiri tea, or even a nice Oolong.
- Sweet corn on the cob (wrap each ear in aluminum foil and toss on the grill for awhile) — green teas are good here, such as Chun Mee, Hojicha, or Sencha.
- Baked beans (you can add in a few hunks of pork for added flavor or keep it vegan) — try Yunnan, Kenyan, or Assam.
- Coleslaw (freshly chopped cabbage, bits of chopped carrots, and coleslaw dressing) — Ceylon, Chun Mee, Sencha, or Nilgiri will go great here.
You may have noticed that different teas go with the above foods. So, what do you do? Serve them all? Or select one or two that go with most of what you are dishing up? There are several that go with most of these foods, so you might start with one of them: Ceylon (black and green), Assam, Kenyan, and Nilgiri. Hot or iced, these teas will deliver manly flavor for your Memorial Day celebration. And us women will enjoy them, too!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Celebrating Mother’s Day varies from one country to another. Here in the U.S. it’s in May and is a big event where we give special recognition to moms, both those who stay at home and those who work outside of the home (either due to economic necessity or the desire to pursue something more). Whichever one applies to your mom, help celebrate her hard work with tea!
Mother's Day Traditional British Flavour Tea Gift Basket
Some people say that raising children is one of the most important jobs there is. Whether or not you agree, you can surely agree that it is one of the hardest, going 24/7 and 365 days a year for many, many years. Amazingly, the concept of Mother’s Day has only been around since 1872 when Julia Ward Howe proposed it more as a way to celebrate the end of the War Between the States (the Civil War). Before then the celebration was considered secular and therefore was discouraged. The ball didn’t really get rolling on Mother’s Day until the early 1900’s, though.
Treating Mom to a Spa Day is one option. Another popular idea is breakfast in bed. However, nothing beats tea. It stimulates and soothes and can be enjoyed both at the Spa and with that breakfast. And there is such a wide array of gift baskets in themes ranging from gardening to golfing to getting some relaxation time, that you will be sure to find one that conveys just the right sentiment.
Of course, you can go a step beyond the gift basket by steeping up a pot of tasty tea and preparing a wonderful meal to accompany it. There are lots of possibilities here, so you will want to base the menu on what your mother likes and pick a tea to go with those foods.
A few options:
- Mexican feast and a black tea with a strong flavor such as Assam or Ceylon.
- A fish fry served up with a Chinese green tea such as Chun Mee or Gunpowder, a Ceylon green tea, or even a fine oolong such as Ti Kuan Yin.
- Fried chicken and fixins along side a pot of Kenyan or Nilgiri black tea.
- Baked ham feast with some Dragonwell green tea.
- Spinach and cheese quiche (there is even a crustless version that is gluten free and has fewer calories) with a wonderfully fresh tasting Japanese Sencha.
That should get your brain to percolating and coming up with the perfect idea to show your mom how much you care. Have a great day!
See also:
Tea for Mother’s Day…in the UK
Mothering Mom on Mother’s Day with Tea
Mother’s Day Magic
A Very Special Mother’s Day Teatime
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Fill your teacup with some tasty tea and get ready to toast some memorable occasions in May. There are the obvious ones, such as Mother’s Day on the 13th and Memorial Day on the 28th. However, as always, I present some not-so-well-known occasions to toast.
A nice hot cuppa Borengajuli Estate with milk and sweetener goes great with macaroons on Macaroon Day (May 31st).
- Lumpy Rug Day — May 3rd — Lumpy rugs are caused by any number of things. Loose padding bunched up underneath. No padding and the rug bunched up from being walked on. That slipper you’ve been looking for underneath it. A cat napping under it. And so on.
- National Tourist Appreciation Day — May 6th — If you own a tea room or a gift shop (especially one that sells souvenir tea mugs), tourists are your bread and butter. So, show them a bit of appreciation today — possibly a bit of a discount or some free tea samples.
- No Socks Day — May 8th — We’re talking about the kind you wear on your feet, not the kind that you do with your fist. This is a great day for beach lovers where no socks are needed for those long walks. Bring along your travel mug full of tea.
- Eat What You Want Day — May 11th — Sure, there’s all this talk nowadays about eating healthy foods, but for this one day throw all that aside and dig in to whatever foods you want. They will all taste better with tea, and since tea can be a help to those wanting to lose weight, you won’t blow your diet too badly!
- Dance Like a Chicken Day — May 14th — Not sure what dancing like a chicken is, but if you do, today is the day to do it. I, for one, will just sit and watch and sip my tea.
- No Dirty Dishes Day — May 18th — You’re probably thinking, “How do I make tea without getting some dishes dirty?” Option 1: Prepare your tea time treats the previous day and put them in things that don’t need to be washed, like plastic baggies and cups. Option 2: Go out for tea and let them get their dishes dirty.
- National Memo Day — May 21st — Memos are sometimes seen as the bane of the office worker’s existence, since they are often used to convey some new restrictive policy. “All employees will refrain from making personal phone calls during business hours.” “As of the date of this memo, tea will no longer be available in the break room.” That last one is really scary! Don’t worry, though, for some memos can be very good, like this one: “Only the best, most premium teas will be served in the office break room from now on.” Ah, now that’s a memo to celebrate!
- Lucky Penny Day — May 23rd — You’ve heard the saying “A penny saved is a penny earned,” but these days it seems that a penny doesn’t count for much. However, they can be quite lucky, especially when you consider that most teas only cost a penny or two per cupful. Or you can save up those pennies for a really special tea such as an ancient pu-erh.
- Tap Dance Day — May 25th — There have been some great tap dancers through the ages, such as Gene Kelly, the ever cute Shirley Temple, Ann Miller, and Gregory Hines. Put one of their movies on and watch it with a nice pot of tea.
- National Macaroon Day — May 31st — These little coconut delights are perfect at tea time, so take some time today to have some macaroons with your tea. I tend to go for some Borengajuli Estate with milk and sugar, but you could keep it light with a nice cup of a green tea such as Dragon Pearls.
You’re all set for May now. Steep up a few potfuls and toast these and other special days this month. It gives you something to do in-between sips!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Although Mother’s Day is not for another two months in the US, it was celebrated on the 18th March in the UK. Since I happened to be home in London for this worthy event I was able to spend time carefully selecting a gift for my mother of, you guessed it, tea!
“Affection Ayurvedic”, a herbal infusion from Whittard’s, was one of the teas I bought as a Mother’s Day gift. Apart from being a tea I knew she would like, the name said it all!
I decided on this gift for several reasons (aside from the fact that I like tea):
- While there is already lots of tea in my mother’s house, you can never really have too much tea. Because she has the proper ways to store it, I did not have to worry about the tea going “bad” or losing flavour over time.
- My mother can be reluctant to purchase yet another kind of tea for herself when she already have several (I am unlike her in this respect), so it was luxury rather than necessity gift (no socks or soap as a cop-out gift here).
- I find it fun to select tea for my mother because I know her well and, more importantly, I know her tea drinking habits well.
- I know that my mother is unlikely to take the time herself to browse through a tea shop’s offerings and find herself a new type of tea to enjoy.
- There is a huge price range for tea, depending on the quality, type, vendor, etc. So, although I wanted be generous and splurge on expensive, rare teas, this was one of those times when finances were tight. And yet I was still able to find a nice selection of inexpensive but good teas that she ended up enjoying very much.
Never enough tea for Mom!
So, although the official day for, as Wikipedia puts it, “honouring mothers and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers in society” is a while away in the US, a warming (or cooling!) gift of tea is a good show of appreciation for your mother at any time during the year. Or for that matter, a good show of appreciation for anyone you care about!© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Sip some Darjeeling White Tips White Tea as your tea toast to April!
Fill your teacup with some tasty tea and get ready to toast some memorable occasions in April. There are the obvious ones, such as April Fool’s Day on the 1st and Easter on the 8th. However, as always, I present some not-so-well-known occasions to toast.
- Children’s Book Day — April 2nd — From “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” to the Harry Potter series and thousands upon thousands more, books created to delight and educate the young among us are true delights for even us older codgers. In fact, hubby and I have bought a few whose illustrations and stories held a certain charm. The Tin Tin series is one of these, and so is The Polar Express, which we bought before the amazing animated movie version came out. Celebrate the day by reading a book to that special young person in your life or even out loud to each other. And keep a cuppa tea at hand to sip from.
- Walk Around Things Day — April 4th — “What things?” you may ask. Well, walk around the table, the desk, the car, the guy standing in the middle of the sidewalk texting on his iPhone, the woman in the produce aisle selecting the best navel oranges, etc. If you have a travel mug of tea in hand, you’ll have a great journey!
- No Housework Day — April 7th — Leave the cobwebs hanging and the dust bunnies rolling while you have a nice, relaxing tea time.
- Russian Cosmonaut Day — April 12th — Steep up some of that Russian Caravan tea. Its smoky taste will send you into orbit!
- Blame Someone Else Day — April 13th — Whether it’s spilling the tea or burning the scones, just blame someone else!
- International Juggler’s Day — April 18th — Juggling can be a part of everyday life, especially for you moms and dads out there. But even for hubby and I things can get hectic, so an appreciation for the jugglers among us is due here. Try juggling some teaballs (the dry form of flowering teas).
- National High Five Day — April 19th — Do not, I repeat, do not have a full (or even empty) teacup or mug in the hand you high five with.
- Take a Chance Day — April 23rd — What a perfect time to try a new tea! Been hearing about mysterious pu-erh but have been reluctant to take the plunge and try some? Go for it today. How about finally trying that highly-touted white tea? This is the day to dive on in. Whatever you choose, remember that it’s all to celebrate this special day.
- East meets West Day — April 25th — You can celebrate by steeping some Formosa oolong in a Bodum teapot or some English Breakfast Blend in a kyusu. Some Japanese Houjicha steeped in
- Hairstyle Appreciation Day — April 30th — Ever had a really, really bad haircut? Me, too. Fortunately, I was surrounded by people of such exquisite manners that not once did I hear things like “Gee, did you break the lawn mower blades getting that haircut?” or “Was that haircut an Edward Scissorhands special?” All they said when I walked in the room or office was, “Hi, you’re looking different today.” On this date if you encounter another such unfortunate victim of the hairdresser’s art, try to be as diplomatic as these people were to me. Of course, often people are quite pleased with the results of their time in the hairdresser’s chair. In that case, your remarks can be fully truthful. Either way, toast their new hairstyle with tea!
You’re all set for April now. Steep up a few potfuls and toast these and other special days this month. It gives you something to do in-between sips!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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What better way to build your tea business than to collaborate with an organisation or a movement whose values your tea company identifies with. Here are just a few ways a tea business can work with charitea.
DisabiliTEA High Tea 105
Monetary Donation
When a natural disaster occurs such as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami what was wonderful about tea companies around the world, was that they donated a percentage of tea sales. Some companies donated a percentage of sales or profits for a fixed period and some donated a percentage of sales or profits for specific teas.
Donation of Time
Donation of time is much appreciated by chariteas raising awareness for a specific event or cause. I have been invited to talk about tea as part of fundraising events or annual social gatherings to bring volunteers together as a way of saying thank you. Other ways to help is to volunteer for the event on the day.
Donation of Tea
Many tea companies donate tea or teaware to a cause or event. The charitea can then use the teas on the day to make cups of tea and use the products to sell cups of tea as part of the fundraiser.
Fundraising with a Tea Event
A Tea event can be a combination of all the above: donation of time, product, and/or a sales or profit donation although organising a morning tea (a popular ritual in Australia, equivalent to the British tradition of “elevenses”) or a High Tea is extremely popular although it can be time consuming. Here are some tips to help save time and energy when organising such an event:
- Find a business owner who can donate a venue if you’re not a tearoom owner.
- Find a company or companies who can donate foods and desserts.
- Appeal to other businesses for gift donations and have a raffle as part of the fundraiser.
- Treat the charitea event like any other event for your business and use marketing techniques to attract attendees for example a flyer drop, direct marketing, a press release for the local press and radio, email marketing and use of Social Media.
- Appeal for plenty of volunteers to help on the day but give them specific roles.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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St. Patrick’s Day is here again. Don some green apparel to symbolize the “Emerald Isle” called Ireland. Break out the green goodies like cupcakes covered with green icing and sugar cookies in the shape of shamrocks and adorned with green crystal sugar coloring. Then, steep up some green tea for a special St. Patrick’s Day tea time.
Uh… green tea? You mean tea colored green with food coloring?
Nope. Green tea as in unoxidized tea.
Chocolate cupcakes with green and white icing and shamrock sprinkles are perfect for your St. Patty’s Day tea time
Green tea is not so popular in Ireland, where the Irish seem to prefer brands of black tea blends such as Bewley’s, Lyon’s, and Barry’s. These brands steep up a dark, rich-tasting liquid that takes milk and sugar well. This could be the reason that Ireland is one of the top countries in terms of tea drinking per capita, with an average consumption of four cups per person per day. A cup or two of this tea in the morning and another cup or two in the evening staves off the often chilly and rainy Irish weather.
Actually, it seems kind of odd for residents of the Land of Green to prefer black tea. Maybe they just haven’t had the right green tea such as a frothy matcha or a smoky gunpowder. Maybe it’s their obsession with putting milk and sugar in the tea (not sure if that came about due to the tea being bitter or if they wanted the tea strong and bitter so they could put milk in it — sort of a “chicken first or egg first” kind of question). Or, worse yet, maybe they don’t know how to properly prepare green tea.
Yes, there are people who don’t know how to properly prepare green tea.
And, yes, I know I split an infinitive — twice!
Time to get my Irish kinfolk to go green — tea, that is. With a wealth of tea choices and a ton of info out there on proper steeping techniques, they should be experts in no time!
Basic green tea preparation:
- Heat water to about 160° F (70° C) — some steeping guides say to boil the water and then let it cool to these temperatures.
- Warm the teapot by pouring in a little of the hot water into it, swishing for about 20 seconds, and then pouring out the water.
- Add tea leaves (be sure not to skimp) to the warmed teapot.
- Some tea vendors say to rinse the tea leaves by pouring a little hot water on them, let them steep about 10 seconds, and then pouring the liquid out.
- Add the hot water to the teapot.
- Steep for 1-3 minutes, depending on how strong you want your tea.
Gee, that was simple… well, sort of.
Of course, if you’re Irish and you really insist on adding milk and sugar to your cuppa tea, you might not want to make the switch to green tea. Most don’t taste too good that way, since their flavors are smothered.
Time to get back to those cupcakes with green icing!
See also:
Go Green (Tea) for St. Patty’s Day
If St. Patrick Had Had These Teas…
Japanese vs. Chinese Green Teas
“I Hate Green Tea”
Some Australian Grown Green Teas
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Valeska Porcelain Teapot
The floral harbingers of spring – daffodils, forsythia, and periwinkles – are in full bloom. Peach trees, plums, and beautiful Bradford pears (no pears, just flowers) scent the air with their fragrant blossoms.
Bird feeders welcome robins, cardinals, finches, and not a few greedy squirrels. Garden snakes emerge to warm themselves in the sun. Our tortoise, Margarit, is demanding fresh lettuce and dandelion greens after her long hibernation. The first colourful butterflies showed up in our yard this morning.
The other day I received notice from a local berry farm that strawberries would be ready in just a few weeks. That means gathering up friends for a morning of pick-your-own – to be followed by plenty of luscious strawberry shortcake. And what better to enjoy with juicy berries than the teas of spring?
The first glimpses of new spring teas having been making their way to our inboxes and social media walls over the past few weeks. We’re seeing photos of Nilgiris on our Facebook pages, along with twitterings of first-flush Darjeelings. By all accounts this could be an extraordinary year for these teas, and for fragrant oolongs and sweet green teas too.
Spring Pouchong - the name says it best!
So it’s time to finish up your winter teas – your smoky teas, pumpkin-flavoured teas, the Christmas cranberry-orange tea – and get ready for light, fresh, new spring teas. You can pack up your snowflake-patterned teapots and your heavy mugs, and bring out the pastel pots and the delicate teacups adorned with butterflies and flowers.
Right now I’m awaiting samples of the year’s first Darjeelings from two of my favourite gardens, and keeping tabs on my regular sources to see what goodies they bring back from the various tea-producing countries they visit each year. I can barely contain my excitement: Will it be a better year than 2011 for Darjeelings? Can the Taiwan oolongs possibly be as wonderful as they were last year? Is Japan back in the game with a new tea crop free of any remnants of the tsunami that caused such devastation?
New year, new season, new teas.
Ready pots and cups
New teas just a breath away
Oh! It’s spring fever …
I don’t know about you, but I’ve sure caught it!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Butterfly handle teacups to help you celebrate Learn about Butterflies Day on March 14th!
Fill your teacup with some tasty tea and get ready to toast some memorable occasions in March. There are the obvious ones, such as St. Patty’s Day on the 17th and the Vernal Equinox on the 20th (when the hours of daylight and darkness are equal, also marks the first day of Spring). However, as always, I bring some not-so-well-known occasions to toast.
- Peanut Butter Lovers’ Day — March 1st — Spread that spread on extra thick today, and use fresh baked bread and some homemade jam or preserves to make the most spectacular and celebratory PB&J ever. Be sure to have a full cup of tea handy in case the sandwich sticks to the roof of your mouth.
- Dentist’s Day — March 6th — Take a bite out of something firm and crunchy, like an apple, and thank your dentist. Before the advent of modern dentistry many folks lost most or all of their teeth by their mid-30s. Of course, tea is known to help out when it comes to oral health and keeping your smile bright, too.
- Be Nasty Day — March 8th — U-hum, that should be “Be NasTEA Day,” since we tea drinkers are never nasty. That’s the civilizing effect of tea! Steep a potful of your fave and share it with friends (or even hog it all to yourself). You will be nasTEA, but not nasty!
- Learn about Butterflies Day — March 14th — Yes, butterflies are free. No, we’re not talking about the movie here. This is about those flitty little things that land on anything brightly colored to see if it tastes good, and then indulging if it is, or going “ptoooieee!” and flying off if it isn’t. Butterflies have also been known to land on teacups and are quite often featured on them and other teawares. Yes, butterflies and tea are a common pairing.
- Ides of March — March 15th — Beware of guys wearing togas! And be sure you know who your true friends are, especially if they are named “Brutus”! If you carry along a travel mug of tea, you can offer it to them, and they will like you so much for it that they will elect you “Caesar” or something like that.
- Poultry Day — March 19th — This day quacks me up! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!) So don’t be chicken and do have an egg-ceptional day! Har! Seriously, folks, tea goes great with dishes made of chicken, duck, quail, and other poultry. Anything from gunpowder to Nilgiri to Kenyan works here.
- Fragrance Day — March 21st — Take time to inhale the fragrance of your tea, both dry leaves and the steeped liquid. Your nose, assuming you are enjoying a premium tea, will thank you.
- National Goof Off Day — March 22nd — Be sure to do things in their proper order: make the tea, then goof off. Some how it doesn’t work when you try it the other way around unless you have one of those tea steeping machines that starts and stops itself.
- Something on a Stick Day — March 28th — Actually, corn dogs sound like the ideal thing to have here, with a nice cuppa green tea.
- I Am in Control Day — March 30th — Yes you are, and it’s all due to tea. The very process of making tea requires control, and the more you do tasks needing this control, you will feel and be more in control. (Now, if I could only control how often I use the word “control”!)
You’re all set for March now. Steep up a few potfuls and toast these and other special days this month. It gives you something to do in-between sips!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
The Chinese New Year is a celebration of change which equates to the familiar saying, “out with the old and in with the new”. I celebrated Chinese New Year for the first time in Brisbane, with these 10 points in mind.
- Make Time for family – I ventured down to Chinatown with my husband to watch the festivities and shared a cup of a Chinese Herbal containing Chrysanthemum flowers, Goji berries and Red dates.
Chrysanthemum flowers, Goji berries and Red dates herbal
- Accepting Gifts Red envelopes (Lei See) are given as gifts where the red colour of the envelope and the money inside symbolizes good luck and is said to ward off evil spirits.
- Year of the Dragon / Dragon or Lion Dance – A dragon or lion dance is performed on New Year’s Day to bring luck and prosperity for the coming year. People born in the year of the Dragon are said to be strong, self-assured and loyal. What Chinese zodiac animal are you?
Double Dragon, Double Luck
- Kumquats, Peanuts and candies – Kumquats represent prosperity; peanuts, long life and eating fruits and candies are encouraged to symbolize having a sweet and abundant life.
- Imagery / symbolism - Chinese New Year is all about decorating the house with signs and posters on doors and windows with the word for luck (Fú).
- Negative Chi –To ill fortune and negative chi, one must reconcile differences, forget any grudges and sincerely wish peace, love and happiness to all!
- Good Fortune – One must sweep away ill fortune on New Year’s to make way for incoming good luck for the coming year.
- Traditional foods – Many traditional foods served throughout the festivities because the name or look of the food sounds/looks similar to a lucky word. One of my favourites are tea eggs, symbolizing fertility.
- Evil Spirits – As well as wearing red fire crackers are set off to ward off spirits and a way to send out the old year and welcome the New Year.
- Ancestors – Temples are visited to pay respect to ancestors, and food and incense is brought to please the spirits of the decreased.
See also:
Tea and the Chinese New Year
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
