The Year of the Tiger... and the Olympic Games

Hi {firstname},

Chinese New Year festivities start this year on Feburary 1st and end with the Lantern Festival two weeks later.

This year is under the sign of the Tiger. Those born in 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998 or 2010 have the Tiger as their Chinese zodiac sign. According to the horoscope, you are brave, competitive, unpredictable, and confident. What do you think?

To celebrate the Year of the Tiger, I wanted to design a tiger puppet. I love cats, and a tiger is a bit like a big cat isn't it? Well, too big to have one in my home, but they are beautiful animals.

So here is a tiger puppet made from a paper sandwich bag. If you don't have a paper bag, you can make an articulated paper doll with moveable head and legs.

The document includes all the patterns you need to create these projects.

The Lantern Festival, on February 15 this year, is an opportunity for parents and children to take an evening walk while carrying a lantern. For more details on this tradition, see my blog. I personally think that the lantern tradition is a good representation of the return of light after those long winter nights.

Here are several lanterns you can make yourself:

Chinese lantern

Chinese Lantern with paper plates

Cheesebox Lantern

February is also the month of the Olympic Winter Games.This year, the Games are held in Beijing, China, from February 4 to 20.

As it is the tradition, the olympic flame was lit in Olympia, Greece, last year. It was then transported to China in a lantern that was especially designed for this occasion. The Olympic Torch relay follows an abbreviated tour in the Beijing area because of the current sanitary restrictions. But the torch will still be carried by 1200 runners over the 3 days preceding the official opening on February 4.

Each Olympic Games host country designs its own torch. You can make an olympic torch too. Here are four examples. The last one is edible!