We are so thrilled to announce that the Skymon Seasons Lunar New Year releases 2022 sales are now on jpg.store!
This collection features the Lunar New Year, an important time of the year particularly celebrated across several East and Southeast Asian regions. It includes 8 pieces of artwork illustrating Skymon’s appearances during the Lunar New Year celebrations. While the sales are taking place, we would also like to guide you through each piece of this collection with the concise background knowledge you need to know about the themes presented in these works.
Dragon Dance
This piece presents the elements from a traditional dance performance in Chinese culture — the dragon dance, which is often performed during Lunar New Year and is believed to bring good luck to the people. The performance usually involves dancers manipulating a giant dragon puppet with poles attached to its sinuous body, bringing life to the mythical creature in fluid movements chasing after a dragon ball.
Lion Dance
The Lion dance is a traditional dance performance, often seen in Pan-Chinese cultures, to celebrate various festivals and ceremonies. The dance is performed by a pair of dancers who would manipulate a lion costume, imitating movements of a lion in a symbolic manner accompanied by gleeful music. The dance can involve acrobatic skills which make the dance a highly entertaining performance to watch.
Wedding of the Rats
Wedding of the Rats is a folk tale of varied versions told about within the Sinophone communities. One of the versions illustrates the episode of a rat couple wanting to marry their daughter to the greatest man in the world. After visiting a few candidates, the rat couple came to realize at last that the greatest man in the world was not the Sun who warms the earth, the Dark Cloud who shadowed the Sun, the Wind who blew away the Dark Cloud, or the Wall who defended against the Wind, but the Rat who dug through the Wall. The wedding was finally held on an auspicious day: the third day of the new year. Besides the equivocal message the story conveys, the day is customarily reserved for the rats’ wedding, and humans are to rest for longer on that day to avoid accidentally disturbing the ceremony.
Devils Out! Fortune In!
Setsubun (節分) refers to the day before the beginning of spring (Risshun, 立春), a day celebrated in the Japanese culture as a preparation for the new year. The celebration usually includes “Mamemaki (豆撒き),” a ritual performed in a manner of scattering roasted soy beans while shouting “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” (Devils out! Fortune in!). The ritual is believed to bring good luck to the coming year.
New Year Firecrackers
Firecracker is a significant element in the Chinese New Year. The device was developed specifically to create a succession of explosions that make loud noises as a means to entertain and celebrate special events. Such loud noises produced by firecrackers are believed to have the power of expelling bad lucks and bringing good fortune. Echos of firecrackers create a joyous atmosphere on the streets during new year celebrations.
Hanbok
Hanbok (한복), the traditional Korean clothes, is an attractive feature in the Korean New Year celebrations. Hanbok is usually in colorful shades and are consisted of a jacket (jeogori) with a skirt (chima) or a pair of pants (baji), and a coat (po). Some Koreans would choose to dress in Hanbok during the Lunar New Year or other important cultural ceremonies to show respect to the tradition. The garments not only evoke a festive mood, but also express the integrated aesthetic of historical and contemporary Korea.
Lanterns of Wishes
Said to be originated from China, sky lanterns are a festival element that can be seen across several regions and has become a part of the traditions in various cultural celebrations. These lanterns are a cultural symbol commonly related to good luck and hopes of the new year. In Taiwan, sky lanterns are usually written with wishes. Such custom presents a visual message that people can send their wishes to god.
Year of the Tiger
Twelve years are set as a cycle in the calendar system developed by the ancient Chinese. Each year in the cycle is assigned with an animal, twelve animals for twelve years, starting from the Rat and ending with the Pig. That is the Chinese zodiac. The Tiger represents the third year in the zodiac cycle, which is the zodiac 2022 is labeled with! In cultures that adopted the Chinese calendar system, it is a belief that someone who was born in the Year of Tiger would have a tendency to develop the characteristics of a tiger, a leader type of person: adventurous, confident, energetic, maybe a little impetuous, but generous. These qualities are also believed to reflect the fortunes of this particular year, which means 2022 is going to be a year of prosperity and greatness!
In light of the crisis in Ukraine, we think it is important for us to support the people who are affected by the war at this crucial time. Therefore, we decided to donate 100% sales from Skymon Seasons Lunar New Year Releases 2022 to Voices of Children. It is an organization that provides psychological help to traumatized children in Ukraine as well as supports to families that are struggling to recover from the destruction of war. By collecting any piece from the collection, you are also making a difference!
