Lunar New Year in Middle Earth

Embracing Multicultural Magic Beyond Borders

Have you ever been inspired by a tradition that opened your eyes to a new culture? Whether it’s a festival abroad or a local celebration, share your story below!

I’ll go first…

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Did you ever miss something so obvious that when you actually see it, you ask yourself what the heck is wrong with you? While studying Dutch, the word for Mediterranean—Middelland—sparked a revelation in my mind. The compound word made from “middle” and “land” is actually the same in both languages…I’d just never looked that closely at the Latin on quite naked display.

Not far from where we’re staying, the area of Rotterdam is called Middelland which could easily be interpreted as “mid-town” but William parsed it as Middle Earth and now I can’t see it any other way. Apologies if we have ruined anyone’s upcoming visit to the Riviera…

If you recall from the first days of the Expat Files, the nearby pet store owner encouraged us to come back for the Lunar New Year festival and we’ve been watching the preparations leading up to the big event today. Lanterns were strung in the trees and today a long stretch of the street closed for a parade with a stage erected for a variety of different performances.

Along the tram tracks, which were closed to the usual traffic, they’d brought in some of the vintage decommissioned cars and stopped them along the route so that families could have a warm spot and prime viewing of the swirling dragons and thumping drums.

We meandered through all of it, marveling in wonder at the mixture of peoples from around the world, young and old, who were there simply to share in the celebration. I heard native Dutch speakers explaining the festivities to one another; I saw all the residents of the local nursing home with their chairs up to the street-facing windows to watch the fireworks.

While technically begun on January 29th, this lunar new year marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake. Associated with wisdom, intuition, and transformation, I’m glad for a positive connotation because I’d been thinking that this year would be rife with deceit and treachery with so many snakes in the statehouse.

I also learned that this lunar year is not just the snake, but this is the Year of the Wood Snake. The added element adds the qualities of growth, renewal and adaptability to the list. It is even said that in the Year of the Snake, people embrace change, seek personal growth, and become more flexible in their approach to life.

According to the Chinese zodiac, we’ve picked the right time to land in The Netherlands.

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