It’s time to sweep out 2020 – the Year of the Rat – and welcome in the hardworking Ox for 2021.
Join Tai Chi instructor Irene Yung and the Pasadena Senior Center for a virtual Chinese New Year celebration at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb.18.
Yung and other special guests in this Cultural Thursday event will lead a festive hour about the traditions and history of Chinese New Year, from the Lion Dance to foods that bring good luck.
Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, has more than 4,000 years of history and is the longest holiday of the year among Chinese people. In the 21st century, the national holiday begins on the first of the Lunar Calendar and lasts until the 15th of the first month. In 2021, Chinese New Year began on February 12 and will end on February 26 with the Lantern Festival.
In the Chinese calendar, this year is the Year of the Ox, which is the second of the 12-year periodic sequence of animals appearing in the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese term translated as ox generally refers to cows, bulls, or neutered types of the bovine family, such as common cattle or water buffalo. Oxen are the hard workers in the background, intelligent and reliable, but never demanding praise. Because of the ox’s role in agriculture, positive characteristics, such as being hardworking and honest, are attributed to it.
Sifu – meaning “Teacher” – Irene Yung, who has been teaching Tai Chi at the Pasadena Senior Center since 2008, is a certified instructor from the Northern Shaolin Kung Fu Association where she has studied traditional Chinese Kung Fu with Grand Master Ken Hui for over 25 years. Originally from Hong Kong, Yung loves Tai Chi because it gives her “a sense of peace and power knowing I am in charge of my body – movement to movement and moment to moment.”
Years ago, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a neurological disorder, and could no longer practice a martial arts style that was so physically demanding. Her master started to teach her Tai Chi which taught her how to slow down and be mindful of her body.
Yung is also a private wellness trainer and kung fu fitness instructor, and owns Strands of Harmony, a jewelry line she also designs. She teaches her students the main elements of Tai Chi practice: awareness, intention, breathing, active relaxation, structural integration, physical improvement, spirituality, and social support.
Yung resides in Pasadena with her husband of 30 years, their children, ages 17 and 21, and her parents who are 84 and 91 years old.
To join the celebration on Thursday, visit www.pasadenaseniorcenter.org/
