CHINESE LUNAR NEW YEAR DUMPLINGS

And a Lunar Calendar to map your year

Hello dear friends,

I want to try chiming in on Sunday mornings, when life and inboxes are slower, and what I’m offering can be savored without so much noise.

If you don’t feel like mustering the energy to read, you can listen to this email in the Substack app. In this screenshot, I’ve circled the play button that appears at the top:

If I’ve set it up correctly, you should hear a lovely British voice named “Victoria,” which is also my middle name, as well as my Italian great-grandmother’s, who was affectionately called “Rina.”

Onward!

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LIVING BY THE MOON

The Chinese Lunar New Year is this Wednesday, January 29th!

I’ve been fortunate to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year on many occasions with my Aunt Luwei by making her famous dumplings (recipe below).

And this year, our school district has designated the Chinese Lunar New Year as an official holiday - no school! Whether you have the day off or plan to celebrate this weekend, making dumplings is a fun family activity and a great way to introduce new cultural traditions and flavors to your children (recipe below).

What I love about the Chinese New Year is that it is one of the few remaining, widespread traditions that celebrates the Earth’s revolution around the sun.

This holiday marks the first new moon of the year, honoring a calendar that follows the moon cycles.

Today, the Gregorian calendar we use in schools, planners, Google Calendar and so forth is nearly universal. While it’s practical to share a calendar world-wide, it falls short of aligning with the Earth’s rhythms.

When I wrote Seasonal Family Almanac with Jana Blankenship (check out her beautiful Substack, Witch Way), we wanted to offer families a way to plan their year around the moon cycles.

At the very least, it would get more people craning their necks out the window to see what shape that gorgeous orb in the sky had taken.

When we floated the idea by dear friend, and certified coach and wilderness guide, Jess Buckley, she suggested we create a DAILY LUNAR TRACKER.

I’ve included the PDF download for the DAILY LUNAR TACKER from the book, along with the introduction and a meditation for setting “new moon intentions.” It’s worth trying this practice, even once a year. You’ll be surprised by how the small act of setting an intention, or focus, for a moon cycle can transform that period of time.

DAILY LUNAR TRACKER

120KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Print this moon calendar template and hang it in a central place in your home.

Download

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LUWEI’S CHINESE DUMPLINGS

While dumplings seem ubiquitous in restaurants and the freezer section of grocery stores, they are a real treat to make from scratch and a perfect family-friendly activity.

Here is the recipe from my book, which includes a short overview of the holiday’s fascinating history.

I love this recipe because Luwei includes widely accessible and affordable ingredients, and offers a way to make one big dumpling “purse,” that saves time and looks impressive!