Belated Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!
I don’t believe in horoscopes, geomancy, and fortune tellers, as you all know. But I hope that in whatever we do, we shall persevere steadily and assuredly…unlike that silly rabbit in the Chinese zodiac mythology.
It’s interesting to see the similarity between this legend and Aesop’s fable of the Hare and Tortoise. In both stories, the moral lessons are clear. “Slow and steady wins the race.” “Pride cometh before the fall.” “Genius is ninety nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration.” “Believe you’re a champion but work hard like an underdog.” “Life is not a race; it’s a journey. Never give up.”
On a different note, I’m glad that we celebrate LUNAR new year instead of a Jovian or Saturnine new year.
Have you ever imagined how our sky would look like if the moon were replaced by another planet? Ron Miller, former Art Director at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, created a series of images to show how our night sky would have looked like if a planet had been hanging in the sky instead of the moon.
For reference, this is the moon over Death Valley in California.
credit: Ron Miller, BNPS; source: Atlantic Magazine
This is Mercury. It’s a little bit bigger than our moon.
credit: Ron Miller, BNPS; source: Atlantic Magazine
This is Venus.
credit: Ron Miller, BNPS; source: Atlantic Magazine
This is Mars, the red planet.
credit: Ron Miller, BNPS; source: Atlantic Magazine
This is Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. It’s about 40 times the size of the moon. With Jupiter in the sky, I don’t think there’d be any point in celebrating a new year. We’d soon be dead anyway from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and climate change brought about by Jupiter’s gravitational force on earth.
credit: Ron Miller, BNPS; source: Atlantic Magazine
And here’s the Saturn in the night sky. I don’t know about you but I’d be too mesmerized by its beauty to focus on anything else. I’d hit street lamps, drive into walls, and miss bridges while Saturn-gazing.
credit: Ron Miller, BNPS; source: Atlantic Magazine
Then there’s Uranus, an ice giant. Its primarily composed of icy materials with a solid core, and its blue color comes from methane.
credit: Ron Miller, BNPS; source: Atlantic Magazine
Last, there’s Neptune, another ice giant like Uranus.
credit: Ron Miller, BNPS; source: Atlantic Magazine
Of all the planets, I can’t imagine celebrating either a Jovian (Jupiterian??) or Saturnian new year because the sheer SCALE of those two planets would be too terrifying for me to behold. They look like they’re ready to fall on my head and crush me any minute.
Besides, I doubt that fireworks and any sort of pyrotechnic display can compete with their grandeur.
So, hurray for our moon! With its unassuming size and light, it’s the best fit for us.
“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”
source: Ming-Dao Deng’s “Everyday Tao”
Okay, I’m ready to continue with my drama watching.
Thank you @Packmule3 for these reflections and work of Ron Miller… I will be sending the Youtube link to some colleagues.
I can only imagine how disrupted my circadian rhythm would be if we had any of the planets to replace the moon. Which is actually funny since that’s the first thing I thought of and the fact that according to my birth year, I’m a rabbit. Sleep is apparently important to us 😜
Cool video! Thanks for sharing, @Packmule3. Did you do and/or eat anything special for Lunar New Year? We were in the mood for dumplings, part of the traditional fare for celebrating the holiday, but ended up ordering wonton soup for takeout. The hot, salty broth helped ease my sore throat.
Since I’m homebound while sick, and my ability to concentrate is a bit impaired, I’ve been keeping myself entertained with the Chinese dramas Hi Venus, then Meet Yourself. I don’t know if you’ve seen us gushing on another thread about the screenwriter Wang Xiong Cheng, who wrote those two as well as three others which I now plan to watch (The Day of Becoming You, Go Ahead, Find Yourself).
Happy Lunar New Year (of the rabbit)
Speaking of rabbits and the moon, I remember trying to understand how a rabbit could be seen on the moon, rather than a face – which is how Westerners mostly see it. This was back when we were watching You Are My Glory.
I found this nice article:
https://www.ryukyulife.com/2020/01/rabbit-in-moon-can-drive-you-crazy.html
Hi @pkml3, impressive photos and video. The large planets would intimidate me too much. A thought occurred to me. Perhaps humankind is rather too full of itself because the bodies of space look so small from where we are. We thought/still think for the longest time, that we were/are kings of the universe. But unfortunately we are weak and flawed. Like all of creation, that is ordered so that all may live, we need order, guidelines, rules instead of trying to upend what is objectively, naturally right and good.
I’m sure the road and the light of day would look far different in that video if a huge planet stood between us and the sun (yes there are other videos on that). In fact I don’t believe we would even exist!
Thank you God, for our moon.
Happy lunar new year 🧧. May this year bring happiness and health to all.
Happy Lunar Year everyone! My best wishes to all!
@packmule3 What an interesting post and insights on what if we had other planets of the solar system instead of our benevolent moon! Thank you for sharing Ron Miller’s images with us, I’m sure I would have been mesmerised by Saturn’s rings or one of those ethereal looking ice planets hanging in the sky if any of them replaced our moon!
Wish you and everyone here a Happy Lunar New Year! I celebrated the new year’s Day eve at our Chinese Cultural Center attending an exhibition on traditional Chinese New Year paintings. It was a wonderful experience, including the traditional dinner afterwards. I wish all BoDs-ers good fortune, prosperity and abundance in this Year of the Rabbit🙏
Happy Lunar New Year to all!
Happy Chinese Lunar New Year everyone!
It’s raining ceaselessly in my part of the world and today is the first day back at work after 3 days of CNY holidays. We had steamboat & hot grill and dumplings for the first day of CNY.
K-Drama-related CNY food moment:
On the 2nd of CNY I happened to be watching “Where the Camellia Blooms” and was just craving dumplings (again) and wondering whether I should steam or boil them.
Suddenly the scene changes to the FL & ML at a roadside stall eating dumplings, and Gong Hyo-jin uses the analogy of dumplings to convey the sort of relationship she wants to have with the ML at this critical juncture.
She said: ” You know, dumplings get cooked even if you steam them, you don’t need to boil them in water. At my age I don’t want that passionate raging love that burns itself out quickly. What I want now is for us to keep warm for a very very long time.” And then, and there I decided I should steam my dumplings 🙂
Happy Lunar New Year!
May we hop on to a dramatic year with creative and coherent plots, competent acting, sizzling chemistry, fewer tired tropes, and no unnecessary murder-mysteries in rom-coms! 😁
Happy Lunar New Year to everyone!
Technically it would be new moon on first day of the Lunar New Year and full moon on the 15th day which is the length of celebrations for new year for the chinese. I remember how my grandparents used to follow the lunar calender to burn incense to their gods. There is always something special about the 15th lunar day..and there would be those calendars in the link or more complicated one hanging in their kitchens.
https://studycli.org/chinese-zodiac/chinese-calendar/
On my side of the world, we have 3 days of public holidays before everyone went back to work or school today. It is the first year after covid that we are able to resume gatherings without all the restrictions so I see a lot of family and friends in various big and small gatherings in my social media. It is a happy sight, especially when this is also the season we go visit relatives we don’t frequently see in the year, grandparents, grandaunts, distant cousins and aunts/uncles.
Wishing everyone good health (身体健康）, abundance year after year （年年有余）, and may all your wishes come true (心想事成）.
Happy Lunar New Year to everyone here at BOD island 🐇
Good read, @Pm3 and everyone who commented. Enjoyed the gifs as well. Very cool.
Grateful for the Moon in our sky. and everything that reminds us God is in control!
Wishing everyone health, wealth, and good fortune in this Year of the Rabbit!