Please join WeStar and your friends and neighbors for the Lunar New Year celebrations on Saturday, February 4 from 4-9 pm at the Weston High School. There is something for all ages–magic show, games, performances and FOOD. This post is a save-the-date post and will be updated as the Owl gets more information.

Gala Registration! https://formfaca.de/sm/DO5A9EF4g. Tickets are very limited. If you have any questions about registration, please send an email to westarweston@gmail.com. You can also use the QR code for registration.

Evening’s program:

4: 00-5:15 pm – Registration, Kids Games, Magic Show

5: 15 – 6: 45 pm – Dinner

7: 00 – 9: 00 pm – Cultural Performance

Here’s what I know: it’s the Year of the Rabbit (starting Sunday, January 22). And as I read more, apparently it is also a Water Rabbit year which has to do with elements being in with animals in the Chinese zodiac calendar, but on a shorter rotation. I love this stuff. The last Water Rabbit year was 1963 and while some of us were not yet born, I think we can agree that was a year of change.

Did you know New York City schools have had a school holiday on Lunar New Year since 2015? Did you know Weston Public Schools are considering the same? And did you know that in Vietnam, it will be the Year of the Cat rather than the Year of the Rabbit and pbs.org will tell you why:

[There are] two variations of a popular legend about how the 12 zodiac animals were chosen. According to that legend, either the Buddha or the Jade Emperor, head of the Chinese pantheon, organized a race across a river to choose the zodiac animals and their order.

In the Chinese version, the cat and rat were riding across a river on an ox when the rat, in its drive to be first, pushed the cat into the water so that the cat arrived last and was disqualified. The rabbit was crossing the river by hopping on stones sticking out of the water, but with one lucky leap it landed on a floating log that swiftly carried it to shore, so that the rabbit finished fourth. However, in the Vietnamese version – which lacks a rabbit – the cat could swim and ended up arriving fourth.

I will tell you that if you put our former-feral cat Bobby Sweetface in water, your life will be shortened to never see the year of the Rabbit on Sunday. He is not a Water Cat. He woud, however, believe in a Year of the Cat, if he would stop napping for just a moment.

More info on the celebrations in Weston shortly…