New Year's Eve In Budapest

Author: Erzsebet Dobos

Source: isnare.com



If you plan to celebrate New Years in Budapest you won't be bored. There'll be plenty of programs to entertain you from an upscale ball to local house parties. Let's not forget the spectacular fireworks at midnight.

Hungarians are very good at partying. We're people who look for every occasion to eat and drink well. One of these special occasions is the last day of the year, Szilveszter in our language. People start preparing for New Year's Eve several weeks before. In some popular entertainment places you have to book your New Years Programme months before.

New Years in Budapest - Restaurants, Bars, Caf้s

Most people in Budapest head for a restaurant, bar, caf้ or pub to carouse on 31st December. You have to book well in advance, especially in popular places.
If you have no reservation, go early and you might get in with some luck. There's usually a substantial dinner that includes special dishes. A glass of champagne is usually included in the price to clink glasses at midnight.
The New Year starts with more eating: frankfurter sausages with horseradish and mustard, lentil soup, roast pig and other traditional Hungarian New Year dishes are served after 24.00. You can dance away this entire calorie intake.

Prices are 40-240 €, depending on how popular and upscale the place is.

Our tip: Liszt Ferenc Square on Andrแssy Avenue offers many trendy caf้s and bars. Pick a place here and you'll be close to the outdoor fesitivities on Nyugati t้r and Oktogon.

New Years in Budapest for Free- Celebration in the Streets

Three major places are the focal point of outdoor festivities.

* on V๖r๖smarty Square a three-day celebration awaits you, on 30th-31st December and on 1st January.
Live bands from different countries will perform.

* Nyugati Square (M3 metro line, trams No 4, 6). Hungarian pop-rock bands will entertain people.

* Oktogon (trams No 4, 6) Disco till dawn with popular Hungarian DJs.

Spectacular fireworks welcome the New Year on all three places. Don't forget to put on warm clothes, because last days of December tend to be chilly in Budapest. You'll find many people in the streets, especially around midnight. Even those who've been carousing in a restaurant or bar, pour out onto the streets and welcome the New Year with singing, dancing and blowing paper horns. Luckily the government has banned the use of firecrackers this year, so celebrating will be safer in the crowded streets, than it was in previous years.

New Years in Budapest - Partying In a Hotel

Most Budapest Hotels offer Special Packages for the New Year's Eve period. Usually you have to stay for at least 2-3 nights. A festive dinner and entertaining programs are included. Choose a hotel in the city centre and you'll find many places of entertainment within walking distance. You can join the happy crowd in the streets and enjoy the fireworks as well.

Prices: approximately 80-250 €

Upscale Celebration of New Years in Budapest-Ball In the Opera House

The New Year's Eve ball in Budapest's beautiful Opera House is an exclusive party where you have to dress up and wear a mask. The program starts with a Gala Concert performed by singers, ballet of the Opera House and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. Afterwards you can fill your stomach with delicious dishes and dance till dawn.

Prices start from 288 €, but make sure you book early.

New Years in Budapest on Boat

Operetta Boat

Say farewell to the old year from a boat on the Danube. Talented singers, dancers and musicians of the Hungarian State Opera House and the Operetta House will perform classical masterpieces. Programs also include belly dancing, step dance and Hungarian folk dances. Fine dinner and beautiful vista of illuminated Budapest make the night unforgettable.

This is another classy way of celebrating the New Years in Budapest.

Price: about 160 €, includes a cocktail, substantial dinner with wide selection of cold and hot dishes, desserts, a glass of champagne, coffee, mineral water

New Years in Budapest - Home Parties

If the above programmes don't appeal to you, stroll in Budapest on New Year's Day afternoon and someone might invite you to a home party. Hungarians are famous for their hospitality and we tend to be even more welcoming on New Year's Eve. Drink local bubbly, beer or wine, have some homemade snacks and make new friends.

Some Hungarian New Year's Traditions

Most Hungarian New Years traditions are related to food. Having lentil or bean dishes on New Year's Day makes you wealthy. Pigs root out your fortune, while poultry scrapes it away. Eat roast pork on New Year's Eve and you'll be lucky throughout the year.

For hangover we eat a special soup (korhely leves) made from sour cabbage and sour cream. Washing and hanging out the washing is forbidden, because someone will die. According to common belief, the whole year will be like the way you behave on 1st January.

You'd better be happy to drive away gloominess in the New Year!

Why celebrate New Years in Budapest?

You have many options where to say good bye to the old year in the Hungarian capital. From an exclusive ball to classy hotels, trendy restaurants and bars, or a boat on the Danube. Make sure you book early!

The best place to make friends and see how Hungarians welcome the New Year go to a homeparty. Hungarians are very friendly and hospitable.

Champagne is cheap here, about 2-2,5 €, and illuminated Budapest is beautiful at night.

I hope you will come and have a good time!

Happy New Year or Boldog ฺj ษvet in Hungarian!

ฉ Copyright All Rights Reserved

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Why Does Chinese New Year Fall On A Different Date Each Year?

Author: Kah Joon Liow

Source: isnare.com



I'm sure you've noticed that Chinese New Year falls on a different day each year.

Here's a list of Chinese New Year dates from the year 2000 to 2014 at http://www.living-chinese- symbols.com/chinese-new-year-dates.html

Why is this so?

I asked myself the same question and finally I figured it out.

Spring begins (立春, l์chūn) each year around Feb 4th (in the Western calendar).

The first day of Chinese New Year starts on the New Moon closest to spring.

(That's why Chinese New Year is called the Spring Festival.)

And ends on the Full Moon 15 days later with the Lantern Festival.

The first day of Chinese New Year is always between Jan 21st and Feb 21st.

But why are Chinese New Year dates so "unpredictable"?

To answer this question, one has to look at how a month in the Chinese calendar or lunar calendar is calculated.

A Chinese month yue4 月 which means "moon" is a REAL moon.

Each lunar month starts on the day of the new moon.

This is the day the moon is closest to the sun and not visible at all.

Does it mean that one has to look at the sky each time to tell the new moon?

Fortunately, the answer is "no".

Otherwise there'll be a lot of stiff necks!

Because the new moon occurs with enough regularity to devise a calendar based on its phases.

(Full moon in the middle of the month. Moon wanes at the end of the month).

On average, each lunar month is 29.5 days.

(Sometimes the months are 29 days and other times they are 30 days.)

But multiplying 29.5 days by 12 months gives 354 days.

Which is 11 days short of 365 1/4 days, the cycle of the four seasons.

Or 11 days "faster" if you like.

So, how does the Chinese calendar "wait" for the natural world to catch up?

By adding an extra month to make a "thirteen-month year".

Well, not every year but every few years.

How often? It turns out seven times every nineteen years.

In this way, the Chinese calendar year keeps in step with the real world.

Each year in the Chinese Calendar is also named after one of 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

Last year, 2005 was the year of the rooster and 2006 the year of the dog.

Go to http://www.living-chinese- symbols.com/chinese-new-year-dates.html for a chart of Chinese New Year dates from the year 1900 to 2019 you can use to tell which is your animal sign.

It's a "cool" system because you won't have to remember how old you are.

You'll just have to know which animal year you were born in!

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8 Ways To Celebrate Chinese New Year

Author: Kah Joon Liow

Source: isnare.com



What are the Chinese New Year activities for celebrating this most important festival in the Chinese calendar?

Let's start at the beginning...

In China, Chinese New Year is called the Spring Festival.

That's because the first day of Chinese New Year falls on the start of spring.

The beginning of spring is a fresh start…

It's the start of a new year of sowing and reaping.

A wish for a good harvest in the year ahead.

(That's how the Chinese character for "year" nian2 年 came about.)

A cause for celebration!

All around the world, Chinese families... put up Chinese New Year scrolls on both sides of the door,

set off firecrackers (It's illegal in many Chinese cities now, but people do it anyway)

and married adults give children red envelopes filled with "lucky money".

Chinese New Year activities begin 2-4 weeks before the "big day".

Here's what you can do to celebrate Chinese New Year.

It's what Chinese families do all over the world.

1. Clean up the house

Select a day and together with the family, clean up the house.

This ritual gets rid of bad luck in the ending year and welcomes in good luck in the new year.

2. Send greeting cards

Send greeting cards with new year wishes to friends, relatives and colleagues.

Remember to post your greeting cards early!

3. Go shopping

Go shopping to buy new clothes for the whole family, food and sweets, and festive home decorations.

Looking for Chinese New Year activities for kids? Go to the website below.

4. Get ready some red packets.

You'll need them later.

5. Decorate the house

Hang Chinese New Year scrolls called spring couplets on both sides of the door to usher in good wishes for the new year.

Paste paper cuts of upside down good fotune "fu" characters, happy children and tangerine oranges on the wall.

Make sure you have vases of flowers in the house during Chinese New Year.

They do more than just add a new year atmosphere to the home.

Living plants symbolize growth and flowers represent wealth and prosperity.

Pum blossoms can be arranged together with bamboo and pine.

They stand for endurance, nobility and longevity.

Other favorite flowers are pussy willow, azalea, peony and water lily or narcissus.

6. Prepare the reunion dinner

Gather your family together for this most important and sumptuous meal of the year on Chinese New Year's eve.

Prepare a meal with auspicious dishes like chicken, fish, oysters, dumplings, green vegetables and noodles.

They have meanings of prosperity, longevity and abundance.

I've put together some Chinese New Year recipes and a list of what different foods symbolize at http://www.living-chinese-symbols.com/chinese-new-year-activities.html

7. Pass the year

After a hearty meal, stay up late to "pass the year" guo4 nian2 过年, an ancient tradition.

You can watch TV, play card games, or chat.

After midnight (or on the morning of Chinese New Year's day), give your children the red envelopes filled with money (called "lucky money").

Put the red packets under the pillow of children. This is said to ward off evil.

8. Send New Year greetings

Call up friends or SMS them on the morning of Chinese New Year and wish them Happy New Year, Good Health and Prosperity.

Visit the homes of friends and relatives with two big tangerines.

Bring red packets to give to the children at the homes you're visiting.

These are eight ways to have a roaring Chinese New Year celebration with family and friends!

Eight is the most auspicious number for Chinese people.

It means wealthy and properous.

Here's to your good health and prosperity in the New Year!

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New Year Resolutions

Author: Gus

Source: articlesfactory.com



[NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS—HOW TO MAKE THEM]

I am an avid New Year's Resolutions writer! In fact, I write them often. May be two or three times in a year. My success rate with them is mixed. I am more or less disciplined and hard working person. So I keep on pushing ahead. But my Resolutions are too ambitious, you may say impractical, to be fulfilled. For example, I may write during this year I will write 3 novels, three non-fiction books, 50 articles, 50 short stories, and 50 poems. At the end of the year, I may not have completed even a single novel, a single non-fiction book, and written only a few articles, short stories, and poems.

My experience with New Year Resolutions has taught me some lessons which I am sharing with you.

1.Don't leave New Year Resolutions for the last moment to write! If you do, on the last day of the year you may end up hurriedly writing down something not better than a shopping list. Spend some time and energy in writing them. At the same time, if you fail to write them before the New Year starts, don't think that now it is too late. Write in the first week of the year or later. It is better writing late than never.
2.Before writing about the New Year and future, cast a glance at the old year and the past. How was the old year? Did you keep your resolutions? If yes, to what extent? If not, why? Given another chance, how would you plan and live the old year. Have a vision of the future. How would you like to see yourself after one year or thereafter? Base your resolutions on this analysis.
3.Write down what you really want to do, not what is routine, customary, or fashionable. If you have no inner urge to reduce weight or quit smoking, it is no use resolving to do so.
4.Make New Year Resolutions a vehicle for change. While we are comfortable with status quo, we want to change our life too. Everybody thinks that he is in a rut. He or she would have been happier in another job, in different circumstances, in new places. But we fear change. Don't just foolhardily jump into change, but plan for it.
5.Plan for new and exciting things in life. Learn something new—dancing, playing a musical instrument, a new language, tennis, web-designing, or writing poetry. If you have never loved, love. It is an exciting thing. If you are in love, get married. It is intoxicating.
6.Write down specific goals rather than general. Instead of writing, "I will reduce weight," specify how many pounds or kilograms you want to reduce within which period and by what means. So write, during the year I will reduce my weight by 30 pounds. I will aim at reducing 10 pounds every quarter (so that I have some extra time towards the year-end). I will regulate my diet (be specific about diet too), will exercise or play some game, go for morning or evening walk, start yoga, and lead an active life.
7.Break down bigger whole year aims to smaller quarterly and monthly aims. In fact, each week write down the aim for that week also. Of course, also keep a daily to-do list (to be written at the start of the day or one day in advance). Revise the monthly and quarterly targets in the light of progress made and aims abandoned and new aims added. In fact, write down a continually evolving list of to-do for the year. Whatever you want to do in the year, just add to this list and do when the right time comes.
8.Supplement the Resolutions list with other lists: Daily Prayer in which you may pray to God for giving you happiness, success, and health, etc. Daily Affirmations, in which you may use the power of affirmations. Daily Do's in which you may fix your daily routine which may be helpful in fulfilling your Resolutions, Daily Don'ts, things you should not do.
9.Use positive power! Most of our resolutions fail because they are about negatives rather than positives. We want to reduce weight or quit smoking, or drinking. But all these are negatives. We will surely be defeated fighting against them. Instead, if we decide to start playing tennis, it would be a positive thing. Little by little we will get interested in it. We will get addicted to it. We will not be able to stay at home when it is playtime, whether it is at 5 a.m. or 5 p.m. We will have to go when our partner calls us. If we are over-weight, we will jog, eat less and sensibly. If we get fatigued easily, we will quit smoking and drinking. We would like to be at the top of our tennis team! We will reduce weight, quit smoking and drinking easily (because our game of tennis demands it!).
10.Don't abandon all Resolutions on slight failure! One of the main reasons why diets are abandoned is 'All or Nothing' attitude. If we fail to follow the diet for one day or eat too much one day, we consider that we have failed and abandon the resolution. The same is true of our resolution about quitting smoking or drinking.
11.If your resolutions break down, and they will and should now and then, for example, when you are celebrating something, when you are honeymooning, when you are meeting some deadline, restart the resolutions. Similarly, periodically evaluate the progress, even make changes. A year is a long period; reexamine your life every three months.
12.Don't forget the unwritten premises! When we write our Resolutions we concentrate what we want to achieve in worldly sense. But we fail to mention other important things in life, like: I will be happy, I will love my family, and I will enjoy nature, etc. These unwritten resolutions are more important than the written ones. If we fulfill them and even fail at achieving the written aims, we have still won. If we succeed at both, that is superb!

Now write down your resolutions! Good Luck.

Be Happy! Be Successful! Be Healthy!
Gus
gus@thelifebeautiful.com

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Who Made The First New Year's Resolution?

Author: God's Penman

Source: articledashboard.com



What is it that makes people stay up until the wee hours of the morning one night out of the year? My primary objective in life is not to see how late I can stay up, but getting up in the morning.

If I can get up each morning, it is a major accomplishment that I should celebrate with eggs, bacon and a hot cup of coffee — which is about all the celebrating I can handle.

I'm not anxious to see someone drop the ball on New Year's Eve. I do enough of that myself throughout the year and believe me, nobody cheers.

One thing I am most careful to do each New Year's Day is make out my resolutions for the coming year. New Year's resolutions represent one of the most ancient of human rituals. I say "human rituals" because it is not known whether the animal or plant world enjoy such exhilarating rituals. The evidence at this point in time is inclusive.

Perhaps Mark Twain was correct when he observed, "humans are the only animals that blush — or need to."

I have not always held such high and lofty views of the New Year's resolution. Once, when I was young and did not know any better, I completely ignored this yearly ritual.

My good friend and mentor, the Reverend Frank Simmons, set me straight on this important issue. My early pastorate was close to Frank's and we spent much time together. I learned so much from him, things they do not teach in college.

Each New Year's Day we would spend in each other's society. One year Frank and his wife would entertain us at his parsonage and the next year my wife and I would reciprocate. It was at our parsonage one year when I made the casual remark that I did not believe in New Year's resolutions.

As far as I was concerned, a New Year's resolution was a useless attempt to interfere with scientific laws. My best resolve is not going to change much in the long run. Besides, I can't run that far these days. My mind is bigger than my legs.

For example. Have you ever noticed that a New Year's resolution is stronger at its birth than any subsequent period? My best intention in January is a long faded memory by July.

Most New Year's resolutions are simply lame attempts to apologize for the past year and a promise of better behavior in the year ahead. People spend so much energy in the creative act of coming up with a good set of New Year's resolutions that there is no energy left to actually keep them for more than two consecutive days.

Frank allowed me to dig my hole as deep as possible and then in his unique way, let me know that I was wrong. I always took criticism from him very seriously.

"Can you tell me," he asked with a mischievous twinkle, "the origin of the New Year's resolution and who made the first one?"

Of course, he caught all of us off guard with this one. My good wife suggested that maybe it was Samson who resolved to give up female barbers.

Everyone had a good laugh at that one. Frank especially enjoyed it, slapping his knee and roaring with laughter.

My thoughts turned to the biblical book of Ecclesiastes. "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay." (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 KJV.)

In my mind, a vow is the same thing as a resolution.

As important as it is to make a vow, or resolution, keeping it is more important. If you cannot, or will not, keep it, better not make it.

A resolution is not an opportunity to boast. It should be done very carefully and sincerely.

Many people at this time of the year make resolutions such as attending church more regularly, reading their Bible and praying every day, and giving more money to their local church.

Such resolutions are music in the ear of every pastor. The problem is, the band stops playing in mid-February.

If everyone who made such resolutions actually kept them for an entire year, most pastors would have heart attacks by September. Thankfully, there is no actual medical danger for the cleric population.

Back to Frank's intriguing question. "Can you tell me the origin of the New Year's resolution and who made the first one?"

During our lively discussion of the subject Frank kept quiet. He just leaned back in his chair, listening to the deliberation with a devilish grin playing across his face. Gradually, the rest of us grew silent and directed our attention toward Frank.

"All right," I finally begged, "tell us. Where did the New Year's Resolution originate and who make the first one?"

Frank knew he had us right where he wanted us.

"Not many people know," Frank began, "that the New Year's resolution has biblical roots. It began with Adam."

He certainly had my attention and I leaned forward to catch every word. With great deliberation Frank explained, "As the first couple began their second year in the Garden of Eden, Adam turned to Eve and said, 'Honey, this year I'm going to turn over a new leaf.'"

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