Valentine's Day, Marriages, etc...

... year of the Rooster. Happy Chinese New Year.

Among other varying suggestions for roosters such as myself, is no marriage. Not every Chinese believe in these, and especially not CBC's like me. Which comes upon the idea of religion itself. What to believe, and what not to believe? There are many things in the Christian faith that are good guidelines (not rules) to bringing up self-respecting children but then there are others that are more along questionable. There are also things within the Taoist and Buddhist faith that are also quite worth thinking about, if not believing. Revolving back to the Chinese traditions, adults give out lucky money in red envelopes and lucky candies to keep the bad spirits away and to bless luck not only on themselves for the coming year but also to the children who will carry on the heritage. Chasing away the bad spirits include a dancing lion and drum/cymbal banging. Incense is burned to respect the dead spirits of a household and mandarines or oranges are meant to pay homage (right translation?) to our ancestors. One believes that they move into a different afterlife but they will always be looking out for us. This I believe, given two near-car accidents I've had in my lifetime. Grandma always did love her grandchildren dearly.

So given the fact that roosters shouldn't marry? You believe what you like, but sometimes it does help to pay some of these strange traditions some heed. Just a thought.

Speaking of marriages, there is a temptation for me to fly out to Austraila to attend my cousin's wedding next year. The best part is that January here is cold while it's summer over there, but if I don't stop with these big trips I keep planning, work is going to wonder why I keep doing transatlantic trips and how since half the time none of them are cheap, with Denmark running near the more expensive type of flight tickets one can buy.