Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Asian New Year Symbol of the Dragon

By John Chan

We will hereby see the characteristics of the Chinese symbol that make them honorable and their association with the important occasion of Chinese New Year.

Two things that have immense significance in Chinese culture are the images of the dragon and the event of the Chinese New Year. These things have been part of Chinese culture for thousands of years and continue to have their presence up till today. Furthermore the two things have a deep interconnection between them.

The dragon has become a symbol which is immediately linked to the Chinese culture. The west has come to know of this dragon symbol from martial art flicksand art work from China. For the Chinese people, this symbol of dragon is a highly honorable mythological animal that is respected for its rarity, magnificence and spiritual powers.

With due respect to the Chinese custom, firstly we must recognize the fact that the Chinese New Year does not match with the Western celebrations of the New Year. The cause behind this is that the western world follows the Gregorian solar calendar and the Chinese have always followed the lunar calendar. Thereby, the cycle of the moon decides the date on which Chinese New Year event is celebrated and this is completely on a different day from the Western New Year.

The New Year event is a spectacular time to be in China. People are high on festivity and enjoyment. As the ancient Chinese culture goes, these people link animal symbols with the change of time and year. There are twelve animal signs in total which keep repeating after every twelfth year. So the sign of dragon comes into full force and fresh spirituality after the end of every twelfth year.

The dragon sign is considered to be a symbolism of immense power. Moreover, the image of a dragon is mostly considered as a symbol of mystical power and anger. The anger of a dragon is always mysteriously justified and hence it signifies the correction of any mistake. So in this case, the angry dragon image is not evil but it plays a role of inspiration.

The Chinese say that the streets overpower you. If you are out on the streets and you see an evil you, it is up to you whether you have the might to stop it. If you can't, then effort has to be made to stop it with your tongue. If that too fails, at least in your heart you should know that the act is evil and there is a low-lying faith in you.

The raging image of a dragon actually wants to keep the evil away It actually represents the suppression of wrong doers and aspires people to follow a right path of honesty and truthful livelihood. It encourages in doing good and avoiding evil. The Chinese New Year symbol of the Dragon seeks in bringing about a change through peaceful ways and through festive means.

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