Photo Source: Wikimedia.org.
Chinese New Year officially begins January 23, 2012. This year will be the Year of the Dragon, a symbol of power and wealth. Dating back before the Gregorian calendar, which is what most modern cultures follow, the Chinese calendar follows the lunar cycle. This is why the Chinese New Year is also known as the Lunar New Year.
To celebrate the New Year, Chinese cultures decorate the streets in red and yellow. Red symbolizes fire, thought to drive away bad luck. This is also why firework displays rule the New Year celebration. Ancient custom depicted people in China lighting bamboo sticks, believing that the crackling flames would frighten the evil spirits.
Following in line with the Chinese New Year is the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the first lunar month. The festivities include a parade and decorative lanterns, but the highlight of the celebration is the dragon dance. The dragon dance features a long, paper and bamboo dragon, sometimes up to 100 feet long, carried by men who dance the piece down the street.
The Chinese zodiac symbol of the dragon means a year of ambition, where we may face challenges but will overcome them to achieve success. You can celebrate with some of our dragon jewelry components to create fun elements in style. Make a Chinese lantern by following the free instructions for our Emperor’s Landing Learning Center idea, too!
We want to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!
Information Source: Infoplease.com.
-Marissa
Yes! Happy New Year of the Dragon, Artbeads!! Let’s play with fire and dance with dragons together!!
I love Chinese New Year! I used to celebrate every year with my best friend. Unfortunately, we’re separated now by 1,000 miles!
My nephew lives for dragons! I’d love to give this to him for his birthday. This year I plan to learn new weaving techniques while continuing to make other jewelry.
This is a magnificent dragon. He would certainly bring success to anyone who receives him. This year I want to do more metal work, wire wrapping, wire crochet, Kumihimo with beads, and anything that inspires me to learn more.
I am a New Year’s baby myself and the dragon would bring some lucky winner great luck. Maybe even me. This year I would like to learn how to make lampwork beads. I think they are beautiful.
Hi All! Make sure to enter the Year of the Dragon Giveaway to be entered to win an aweseome dragon prize! Click on this link to read the full details: //blog.artbeads.com/2012/01/the-year-of-the-dragon-giveaway/
the year of the dragon and the year of the art bead they have everthing a bead head could want start your adventure with artbead you’ll never need to go any where else
Artbeads 2012 Year of Dragon give-away has inspired me get down to work on an oriental dragon necklace I have been collecting pieces for the past 2 years! Thanks.
Hi! Year of the Dragon…a lot of people I love can use some good luck this year! Last year was a stinker! My MS has added severe nerve damage to my hands, but if I get my hands on this lucky Dragon, I’ll make a necklace for my eldest grandson who’ll be 14 in March. This year I hope to actually be able to start & finish a couple of projects, modifying ideas to be more accessible! ♥ Bonnie!
This year I am looking forward to trying my hand a designing and welding my own bead components. the jouney so far has been amazing and now I am looking to travel a path to new beading!
Would like to try some other beading methods this year. Want to step-it-up with the diffulculty level!
The husbands of some of my customers have asked me if I make ‘man jewellery’…the dragon slider necklace would be perfect!
I enjoy the chinese culture and celebrating with my Asian friends. My hubby will be getting a great honour bestowed on him in a couple of months and this would be a wonderful gift for him. Artbeads has always been innovative in their products and designs – pleased to see this continue.
Wish I could participate in the give-away, but it is apparently open to only those who have given their lives away to their phones. I do not have Twitter, nor do I have the Internet on my phone.
Hi Margaret!
You can enter the giveaway by using your computer as well! All you need is an e-mail address to leave a comment. Be sure to leave your comment on the Giveaway blog post and not this one 🙂
The Year of the Dragon is a sure winning year for me, good luck everybody.
Happy New Year of the Dragon! Happy beading 🙂 Dragons are a great way to show creativity.
The more I explore Artbeads,the more I want to try expanding with new bead designs.My daughters love the jewelry I have made for them and I love the looks on their faces as they choose a handful of bracelets from the “finished”tray.
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