During Media Noche, the "Midnight Meal," there are often seven round fruit or thirteen fruits with seeds placed in a bowl in the middle of the table as our New Year centerpiece. Cassava cakes, kutsinta (round rice cakes), hopia (mung bean-filled pastries), and karioka (deep-fried glutinous rice cakes) are placed on your best round plates. Coins are scattered all over the floor in every room of the house and money should be in your pocket as it will jingle to ring in the year as you jump up and down at midnight. Even clothing should have polkadots, preferably red circles, from your sweater to bead necklaces down to your underwear. Don't forget to hang grapes on the mantle of the front door (though make sure not to accidentally squish them on your way out the next day). Festivities continue into New Year's Day with games such as bingo (or in my family's case this year, bouncing ping-pongs into cupcake tins to win prizes).
Why are circles so important?
Circles represent many things- abundance, prosperity, completeness, and the cycle of life.
Circles also symbolize revolution, not just in the movement of planets, but in the way that we circulate around a point. Believe it or not, one of the earliest meanings of the word "revolve" meant to "turn over (in the mind or heart)" or to "meditate." The word stemmed from bringing the old with you as you gain new perspective from the other side of the circle.
In that sense, with each new year, we don't start completely anew; we still bring the old year with us as we journey on the track of life. As we sojourn, we pick up new things - new skills, new habits, new goals, and new visions for a better tomorrow. Across cultures, languages, and beliefs, each new year brings forth opportunities to bring what is important such as spending time with loved ones and focus on the things that you want to bring into your life.
I like to think of it as another type of circle - a snowball.
Our lives are like snowballs, building momentum, gaining traction, growing and shaping into something bigger. Also, sometimes we need a little push from others to get the ball rolling.
As we head into this new revolution around the sun, may this year bring you much joy, prosperity, and new perspective on the journey ahead.
In any and every way you celebrate, happiest New Year to everyone.
Committee Members
- Katherine Ellison, Glen Grove Principal
- Aurora Joaquin, Glen Grove Speech-Language Pathologist
- Katelyn Kelleher, Glen Grove Psychologist
- Hedy Helfand, Glen Grove English Langauge Learning Teacher
- Pam Leister, Glen Grove English Langauge Learning Teacher
- Lisa Funke, Glen Grove Learning Resource Center Director
- Marie Chang-Pisano, Glen Grove Reading Intervention Associate
- Sylvia Gorski Duarte, District Title III Family Resource Teacher
- Lindsey Lurie, District Multilingual Instructional Coach
Email: GGCommunityProject@gmail.com
