Hello!
On Friday 12th February we celebrate Chinese New Year and 2021 is the year of the Ox!
The popular Cantonese greeting is 'Hung Hei Faat Coi' and can be pronounced 'Gung hey fat Choi', which means : wishing you great happiness and prosperity.
In China, this special date marks the start of Spring Festival – two weeks of celebrations with family, food, fireworks and gifting hongbao (red envelopes). During the Spring Festival, a popular tradition is to make a wish for the year ahead and hang it from a wishing tree. The most famous wishing trees are in Lam Tsuen, Hong Kong. There are four in total at the shrine, one for career, academic and wealth wishes; one for marriage and pregnancy wishes; one for all wishes. The fourth tree is considered the most special – here worshippers tie their wishes to an orange, making a bao die. This is thrown up into the tree – if it hangs, your wishes will come true. Traditionally these wishes were written on joss paper, after burning joss sticks.
So I was thinking, let’s have our own wishing tree in the chat! Send in your wishes for the coming year to hang on the (virtual) tree. Head over to the chat-forum to get involved.
This weeks Culture Vulture suggestions:
Saturday 13th February 10- 3pm an all day event to celebrate Chinese New Year -
Book free to take part in the following sessions:
10-11am: Chinese Language Taster Session.
Have you ever wanted to learn Chinese but haven't been brave enough to sign up to a language course? Join one of our experienced language tutors are they introduce you to some of the most commonly used Chinese characters as well as some useful phrases!
12-1pm: Chinese New Year Lecture.
Delve deeper into the Spring Festival as we introduce you to some of the Chinese customs and traditions associated with this important cultural celebration.
2-3pm: Chinese Painting and Paper-Cutting
Learn a little bit about the techniques of traditional Chinese Painting as we teach you how to form some basic shapes and create a Plum Blossom painting. If you have paintbrushes, paper and calligraphy ink or watercolours then you are welcome to join in from home! In the second half of the workshop we will introduce you to Chinese paper cutting and scissors, paper and pens are recommended to join in with this activity.
Also this week from the wider arts & culture community...
THE NATIONAL GALLERY
On 12th February take a behind-the-scenes tour to reveal works that show how LGBTIQA+ life and love have always been an important part of the National Gallery. From iconic artists such as Michelangelo, Titian and Caravaggio who depicted same sex love and desire on canvas, through to paintings that open up the biographies of remarkable individuals long held in esteem among the LGBTIQA+ community, such as Alexander the Great, Saint Sebastian and the Duke of Buckingham. We also take a closer look at the work of Rosa Bonheur, as well as a self portrait by renowned Welsh artist Gwen John on display at the Gallery.
Friday 12th February from 6-7pm (free event). https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/where-we-belong-lgbt-history-in-the-national-gallery-12-02-2021?
Wolverhampton Literature Festival
Returning for its fifth year in February 2021. Hosted by City of Wolverhampton Council the festival aims to amplify the voice of authors, poets, writers, storytellers, puppeteers, podcasters, vloggers, publishers across the UK. Over a three-day period, taking place on the 12th-14th of February, our programme of events features a variety of entertainment, which consist of talks, performances, readings, and practical workshops.
some events have a charge and some are free such as:
A Short Play 'Play On Nurse Brown'
Music with Sohan Kailey with dance, puppetry and storytelling
Will Self memories
History Uk Collecting and Display
15th February 6-7pm.
A study of the collecting and display of art in the ancient Roman world.
Free Chinese Calligraphy Workshop
Tuesday 16th February 6-7pm.
Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters used on a daily basis, combining purely visual art and the interpretation of a literary meaning. It focuses not only on methods of writing but also on cultivating one's character. Let's learn how to write Chinese New Year greetings in amazing Chinese characters.
Velvet Fist - A Choir
18th February an archives launch - free just book following link.
Velvet Fist was a socialist feminist women's acapella choir active in London 1983 to 2013. They sang songs of resistance and solidarity in support of struggles in the UK and beyond. Velvet Fist sang about people past and present, and their struggle for liberation.
Rouge 28 Theatre
Urashima Taro tells the story of a poor fisherman seduced by a mysterious and cruel turtle-woman. This solo performance explores power, seduction and death, with an underlying sense of humour. Inspired by Japanese mythology, it fuses stunning visuals with human-size puppets and paper theatre. It transcends both Japanese traditions and Western modernity with its truly unique duet between actor and puppet.
The Spiders Thread - A Film
This film is based on the famous short story by the renowned modern Japanese writer Ryuunosuke Akutagawa. It tells the story of a cold-hearted sinner called Kandata who is in Hell because of his past monstrous life. One day, Buddha looked down from Paradise into Hell and he saw that Kandata had done one good deed in his past life – he had saved the life of a spider.
Open circuits from the Victoria Gallery and Museum
Wednesday 17 the February at 1.15pm a free lunch time concert.
The Dialogues Project is a collection of collaborative audio-visual works between electroacoustic composer Dr Oli Carman (University of Liverpool) and multi-media artist and composer Dr Mark Pilkington. This Lunchtime Concert will feature a short video documentary that outlines the creative ideas behind the project, followed by a video performance of Synergies (2020), and a new as yet untitled piece.
Manchester Science Festival 12th to 21st Feb
Various events through February including the Royal Photographic Society Science photographer of the year and the 101 year old scientist James Lovelock with Earth, but not as we know it, Lovelocks legacy and our future https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/manchester-science-festival/whats-on
Best wishes to everyone and thanks for listening!
Corinne
If you do manage to take part in any of the Culture Vultures suggestions then we'd love to hear from you. Feel free to post a comment in the box below which is open to PSS Wellbeing Centres members.