Lunar New Year Celebration

[Magnolia Grove Monastery]

Dear ,
May this email finds you in joyful spirit and good health.
Registration for the September Retreat started on January 18th and
friends are sending applications in daily. Spaces are filling up
quickly. Therefore, we kindly ask you if you wish to take part in this
retreat, please send us the registration form as soon as possible for
us to reserve a space for you. Registration form can be found on our
website: www.magnoliagrovemonastery.org (click on September Retreat).
The spirit and atmosphere for the Lunar New Year (Tet in Vietnamese)
have already taking place. More than one week ago, the monastics and
friends gathered to make traditional earth cake and sky cake for the
Vietnamese New Year. Banana leaves, glutinous rice and cooked mug bean
were beautifully placed on the ground for us all to sit in small
circles and in rows to make these cakes. Number of the monastic
sisters made different types of candied fruits, for example: coconut,
ginger, kidney bean, and carrot. We shared our joy, happiness and
laughter to one another.
We are writing this email to also cordially invited to celebrate the
Lunar New Year ("Tet" in Vietnamese) with us. Tết is a new year
celebration based on the Lunar calendar which is generally one month
behind the conventional one. This year, it falls on February 02-06 and
is the Year of the Cat for Vietnamese (Rabbit for Chinese). This
several-day-long celebration requires ample preparations, but the
preparations are part of the celebration, just as we bake Christmas
cookies in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
We will decorate and continue the New Year’s preparations. You are
welcome to visit during our celebrations from Wednesday to Sunday, or
only on Sunday. There will also be the opportunity to visit the monks
and nuns in their own rooms—which only happens once a year. You can
participate in the Tale of Kieu Oracle reading, a Plum Village Tet
tradition. Brothers and sisters will interpret the meaning of a few
lines of poetry taken from this classical Vietnamese poem, to help
inspire your practice for this New Lunar Year.
Below is the tentative schedule:
Wednesday (February 2nd)
8:00pm- Dharma talk from Our Teacher from Plum Village
11:30pm- Welcoming the New Year Friday (February 4th)
9:00am- Paying respect to the Buddha
- Tale of Kieu Oracle reading
- Lunch
3:00pm- Visiting nuns’ residence
Thursday (February 3rd)
9:00am- Paying respect to our Teacher
- Dragon dance
- Tale of Kieu Oracle reading
- Lunch
3:00pm- Visiting monks’ residence Saturday (February 5th)
7:30pm- Performances from monastics and friends
Sunday (February 6th)
9:30am- Ceremony
11:00- Tale of Kieu Oracle reading
12:30- Mindful and fun traditional games, lunch and full of other
surprises


We look forward to seeing you. May you have a peaceful and pleasant
day.

A lotus for you,
A Buddha to be.


The Brothers and Sisters of Magnolia Grove Monastery

Contact information:
Magnolia Grove Monastery
123 Towles Rd.
Batesville, MS 38606
Tel.: (662) 563-0956
Email: off...@magnoliagrovemonastery.org
Web: www.magnoliagrovemonastery.org