Coming January 31: Chinese New Year and the Year of the Wooden Horse

Sculpture from the Han Dynasty. Image courtesy of Robert Harding Picture Library.

January 31, 2014 is the first day of the New Year in the Chinese calendar. It is designated as the Year of the Wooden Horse and officially ends on February 18, 2015.  The horse symbolizes adventure and romance, as well as the opportunity to seek out better fortune, especially for those who hadn’t been particularly lucky in 2013.  We’ll be posting a series of blogs during January and February to commemorate this ancient holiday.  We also will have a special section on our website showcasing various activities and festivities:

• We are proud to announce that the Chinese American International School in San Francisco will be contributing pictures, artwork and other projects created by students for Chinese New Year.
• Dan Fenelon, AntiquityNOW’s artist-in-residence, will be exhibiting some of his designs inspired by ancient Chinese culture.  (To see some of Dan’s original designs for AntiquityNOW, go to The Bazaar, AntiquityNOW’s store on zazzle.com.)
• The Archeaology Channel, the streaming-video site by the Archaeology Legacy Institute, will share its videos on ancient Chinese sites.

And there’s more to come.  If you are a teacher, please consider sending pictures, videos, blogs or whatever you are doing with your class to mark Chinese New Year.  If you’re an artist, send us your creative work for posting.  Maybe you’d like to write a blog exploring the historical and modern traditions of the holiday.  We welcome your contributions.  Click here for AntiquityNOW’s submission form.