Chinese New Year and Cannabis
This Chinese New Year, we welcome the year of the Rooster. Though we’re in the new year of 2017, old and contemporary traditions still carry on through the Chinese culture. Chinese people celebrate their New Year’s in different ways such as having a festival, decorating buildings with red and gold banners, eating lucky foods to name a few. China’s long time friend, cannabis, has for many years been an essential part of the country’s history, from using hemp bowstrings for weapons to diffusing cannabis leaves into tea to other medicinal ailments. Question is, how can cannabis be incorporated with contemporary Chinese New Year traditions?
Cleaning the House
Seven days prior to New Year’s Day, which this year lands on January 28, Chinese families will begin their celebrations by participating in several preparations. One Chinese New Year (CNY) custom is called, “Sweeping the Dust”. According to ChinaHighlights.com, cleansing the house from top to bottom represents welcoming in the New Year and bidding farewell to the previous year, just as the saying goes, “Out with the old and in with the new.” A great sativa strain would definitely help get your house spick and span. Since sativa carries cerebral properties, this would help with focusing, organization and energy.
Paying Respects to Ancestors
One major tradition that is essential to celebrating CNY for the Chinese is paying respects to their ancestors. Offerings of food and incense are performed at the temple to please the spirits of the deceased and to receive good luck for the incoming year. To cannabisize this tradition, we suggest offering cannabis-infused foods and cannabis incense to satisfy your ancestors.
Eating Lucky Foods
A common Chinese superstition would be to eat foods that will bring in good luck on New Year’s Eve. An ancient tradition among the Chinese is eating long noodles. They say if you eat your noodles without cutting them, it means you will live a long life. With all those noodles to eat, you would need a huge appetite. We suggest starting with a good indica strain to get your munchies going. Or, consider dousing your noodles in some cannabis-infused chili oil!
Lantern Festival
The final hooray during this 16-day celebration is the Lantern Festival. Thousands of lit up paper lanterns are released into the sky and/or thousands of floating lanterns are released into the sea, river, or lake. This magical event is shared among friends and family. We suggest consuming a good hybrid strain to get the best out of your magical experience.
Chinese people believe that what you do on the first day of the year determines how the rest of your year will be. So make sure you follow those traditions are kept alive and if you choose to add cannabis to your festivities, consume responsibly and know the perfect dosage to take while participating in these festivities. Happy Chinese New Year!
