Happy Dongzhi Festival - Dec 21 2012

Good morning! A look at the weather today spells another sunny blue-sky day. If you recall, it's supposed to be end of the world today according to the Mayan calendar.

We are having bright blue skies over in Kuala Lumpur today

though it was overcast yesterday with some rain..

And the day before was sunny with these huge cumulus clouds with the sun's rays seeping through. A glorious day for sky-watching!

Today is Winter Solstice - Dec 21, 2012 - celebrated in the Chinese community as one of the most significant Chinese festivals. In fact, it is regarded THE most significant festival of the year, surpassing even Chinese New Year.

Known as the Dongzhi Festival, it is the last festival of the lunar year before the start of a new lunar year. Dongzhi festival is traditionally celebrated as a thanksgiving holiday for the year's good harvest. It is a day where the family gets together for a feast and offerings are made to deities and deceased ancestors. Glutinous rice balls called tangyuan in Mandarin are the order of the day.

Happy Dongzhi Festival to you if you are celebrating the occasion!

End of the world? Well, today is the day. But then again, probably not.

Dongzhi Festival - December 21, 2012

It's hard not to be sucked into the hype of the end-of-the-world thingy.

A company a friend works for is holding a company party this Thursday. I asked him what's the occasion. He said simply - to celebrate before the "end of the world" happens the following day, Dec 21. See what I mean? Perhaps all this is just much ado about nothing or on a lighter side, end of the world is being postponed?

Friday, Dec 21, happens to be a significant festival for the Chinese community. Last year, Dongzhi festival was celebrated on December 22.

It is the day we celebrate the Winter Solstice festival where family members get together. In the old days, this festival is to give thanks for a bountiful year but these days, the family just get together for a feast and offerings are made to deities and deceased ancestors at the shrines at home. This is a normal scenario at a Taoist/Buddhist home.

The Winter Solstice festival is known as the Dongzhi festival in Mandarin. The specialty food associated with this festival in this part of the world is the tangyuan (glutinous rice balls cooked in syrup). These glutinous rice balls (used to be in white and pink now come in more colors) can be plain or filled. They symbolise reunion, togetherness and completeness. In northern China the tradition of eating dumplings is still practised.


Image source: Google Search

End of the World - Postponed

Year-end shopping sales and "end of the world" are hot topics at our meal-breaks. Someone even shared that besides the unavailability of power supply, lighters are also not able to be used though this is hard to fathom. Charcoal stoves are also advised, both for cooking and to keep warm as it is believed there won't be any sunlight/heat during the three-day transition. Left to be seen, of course.

Me? It's better to be prepared so I'd be sure to stock up on some food (non-perishable - remember the fridge won't work), drinking water, batteries for torchlights and other standalone lighting implements, candles and matches. Feel free to add to this list as you see fit.

Maybe much ado about nothing but you never know what's going to happen. We have been advised to pray - collective good vibes through prayer may be able to lessen the effects of this doom-and-gloom event of our lifetime.

Maybe, nothing will happen and the event has been postponed? You think?

Image from an email

End of the World & Expected Cosmic Events in 2012

The Star reported yesterday about a UFO sighting in Sunway, outskirt of KL. Some people say they were just LED kites. Do you believe UFOs and ETs exist? What about the much-talked about "end of the world" predicted to be on Dec 22 this year?

We have for a while now been hearing talk, been talking about it ourselves, even watching a movie, 2012, about the end of the world. Is the Mayan calendar to be believed? I find the end of the world a concept hard to believe but I do subscribe to 'never say never', so anything is possible. Skeptical as we may be, or at least some of us, there are signs around us that show our world falling apart - earthquakes and tsunamis, floods, global warming, and so forth. Methinks.

Scientists even believe that ETs are sending us warning signs by way of crop circles, for instance.

Crop circles - do you think they are man-made or made by extra-terrestrials with the aim of delivering humanity a message as to what to expect and what to do going forward? Crop circles have been appearing in the last 20 to 30 years and they are found all over the world. There was even a crop circle in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, just January of last year.

Remember two suns spotted last year in China? I even saw the two suns one morning in June. Something is really happening in our solar system, in space out there. Perhaps, there is some shifting going on?

Do you think astral travel (astral projection) or out-of-body experience is possible? AstralWalker, Pane Andov, astral travels and he has been receiving messages from extra-terrestrials who ask that he passes them on. In his presentation on Expected Cosmic Events in 2012, a talk he delivered in Australia last year, he talks about crop circles, planets shifting resulting in the 'other sun' being visible on Earth, the splitting of land masses, among others. Here's the video..


Is the world coming to an end on Dec 22, 2012? Your thoughts?


Images here are video-grab shots from the video, Expected Cosmic Events in 2012