Today is Spring Festival, Qun Jie.  We tend to say "Chinese New Year" but, while it is true that it may be the most important family holiday for many Chinese people, it also signals something  universal: the beginning of Spring. 

I am often impressed by the wisdom of the old calendar, rooted as it is in agricultural life, and the practices that lay behind Spring  Festival: the observations that produced the understanding that the second full moon after the winter solstice marks a significant seasonal change.  Today I noticed that the sun was brighter in my front window.  Even though it was below freezing (about 25 degrees F), the snow was slowly receding from the front of my house, evaporating under the glare of solar energy.  The days are noticeably longer than a month ago.  Even though we clearly remain in the grip of winter, hints of spring are in the air.  The birds sense it, too.  A few small sparrows hopped on the pavement under my car in the driveway, searching for the imminent warmth.

The old farmers knew that this is a moment of change.  Subtle change, but change nonetheless.  Not as dramatic a transformation as the vernal equinox, but the beginning of the processes that will bring that more obvious moment to life.  

So let's say Happy Spring!  It is a new year, certainly, but is is also an old pattern: the darkness gives way to the light, the cold to the warm, the stillness of winter to the bustle of spring. 

Happy Spring.  And Fu, too.