Chinese/Lunar New Year
The Chinese New Year falls on different Gregorian date every year because it’s governed by the traditional Chinese/lunar calendar. This year it falls on 1st of February 2022. When I first moved to Germany, it felt like moving to another universe – Lunar New Year is usually very lavish, festive, loud, it’s arguably the most important holiday in Chinese communities. Here there’s absolutely no trace of it.
It’s always a good idea to expose your children to different cultures, but as Nina is of Chinese descent, I find it especially important for her to be introduced to this custom.
There are different approaches you can do Lunar New Year activities with your children, if you don’t directly live in a community that celebrates it. First and easiest step would be to find storybooks or videos about Chinese New Year. This is a great book to start, written by a first generation Chinese-American:
Then you can always do Chinese New Year art and crafts! One of the favourites is to paint or make plum blossoms, as Chinese New Year is also a marker of the beginning of spring, and plum blossom is the national flower of the Republic of China.
Here is another classic that I used to make as a child: a paper lantern. You basically only need to fold a piece of paper in two and cut slits. Nina was 2 years old when she did this:
You can also see what is this year’s animal according to the Chinese Zodiac, and make crafts based on that animal.
Valentine’s Day
Here is the most popular theme for the month of February! Some craft ideas for Valentine’s Day: