My Dear Friends,
Tomorrow is Chinese New Years eve so I will be going off line and travelling with my wife to the mountains of central north China where we will spend the Chinese New Year holiday with her family on their farm. This time is spent honouring family members, passed ancestors and the younger generation where we come together as one and enjoy the festivities, so I would like to take this opportunity in wishing you all

A Very Happy Chinese New Year
Gong Xi Fa Chai 恭喜发财
Xin Nian Kuai Le 新年快乐
2014 The Year of the Horse

So if you were born in :- 1906, 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, and 2002 then you were born in the Year of the Horse.

Horse people are active and energetic. They got plenty of sex-appeal and know how to dress. Horses love to be in the crowd, maybe that is why they can usually be seen in such occasions like concerts, theaters, meetings, sporting occasions, and of course, parties.
The horse is very quick-witted and is right in there with you before you have had the chance to finish what you are saying: he’s on to the thought in your mind even before you’ve expressed it.
In general, the Horse is gifted. But in truth they are really more cunning than intelligent – and they know that. That is probably why, most of the horse people lack confidence.
Chinese believe that because horses are born to race or travel, all Horse people invariably leave home young. The Horse despises being pressured to act for the good of the group or made to feel guilty. No matter how integrated they seem to be, a Horse’s inner self remains powerfully rebellious. Although they have boundless energy and ambition, Horses have a hard time belonging. The Horse is hot-blooded, hot-headed and impatient. Horse people are a bit of an egoist, well, selfish sometimes, that it is rare for them to interest themselves in any problems except their own. And though this egoist works only for themselves and for their own success, their work nevertheless benefits everybody.
The Horse is a worker, adepts at handling money and a good financier. But unfortunately, they are also famous for suddenly losing interest on something. In their relationship with the opposite sex, the Horse is weak. They will give up everything for love.
Being born a Horse, there are many contradictions in their character. Horses are proud yet sweet-natured, arrogant yet oddly modest in their approach to love, envious but tolerant, conceited yet humble. They want to belong, yet they are burdened by their need for independence. They need love and crave intimacy yet often feel cornered, pressured. But the truth is, the Horse is an individual, who depends only on their own wits and labour to get what they want

Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the first day of the year of the Chinese calendar. In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival, the literal translation of the modern Chinese name. Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year’s Eve, the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festiva; on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar. Because the Chinese calandar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the “Lunar New Year”.
The source of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Traditionally, the festival was a time to honor deities as well as ancestors. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mauritious, Philippines, Macau, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors.
Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Year’s Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of ‘Good Fortune’ or ‘Happiness’ ‘wealth’, and ‘longevity.’ Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes (Hong Bao) .
Although the Chinese calendar traditionally does not use continuously numbered years, outside China its years are often numbered from the reign of the 3rd millennium BC Yellow Emperor. But at least three different years numbered 1 are now used by various scholars, making the year beginning in 2013 AD the “Chinese Year” 4711, 4710, or 4650.

Namaste with Love
Always

Mark