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    Sophie Austin
    Written By
    Sophie Austin
    Published
    2/2/22

    Happy Year of the Tiger

    Join our writers’ blocky celebrations!

    Happy Lunar New Year to one and all! This time of year is all about new beginnings, ushering in new luck, and most importantly – celebrating! There are lots of ways to usher in the new year, whether you’ll be sharing a meal with your family, taking a trip, seeing old friends, giving gifts, or marking it in your own special way. No matter what you’re doing, some of us writers here at Minecraft.net want to wish you luck and prosperity for the year to come and share how we’re celebrating this important holiday in Minecraft!

    Before Lunar New Year, it is customary to roll up your sleeves and clear out the last year’s clutter. Not only does this give you bonus points with your loved ones, but it also prepares your home for a new start. This is because "dust" in Mandarin Chinese is a homophone for "old", so the cleaning is symbolic: by removing the dust we sweep out the last year’s luck and invite in the new! Of all our writers, none were more excited by this prospect than our very own editor, Per Landin! Following tradition, Per finished his mission by midnight on the  January 31, so as not to sweep any good luck away on the first day of the Lunar New Year:

    A clean home is a happy home – which is also true for Minecraft! As the Lunar New Year marks a new beginning, it’s important to throw away yesterday’s garbage and rid yourself of bad luck. This is why – the considerate Wood Ox I am – I’ll be spending my Lunar New Year in traditional fashion: by organizing my fellow co-workers’ messy chests – especially the chaotic containers of one Cory Scheviak. 

    As a Vanilla Game Designer, Cory is way too busy to keep his many chests of junk in order. For that reason, it has become something of a tradition of mine to pay his hidey-hole a visit and give it some much needed cleaning! While the server is empty, I create order out of chaos, carefully sorting his belongings into a neat system. Who needs Fortune III when you can have fresh good luck in an organized home? Cory remains baffled and has yet to learn the identity of this mysterious, pedantic vigilante. Perhaps one day I’ll tell him!

    Look at this mess! How can I clean the content of the chests when the chests themselves are such a mess?

    Dirt blocks and individual items everywhere. Time to get rid of the bad luck!

    Perfectly balanced - as all chests should be! I even added a bunch of eggs for extra good luck!

    As it’s the Year of the Tiger, who better to continue the celebration train than our very own Tiger, Sofia Dankis! Tigers are known for their bravery, their spirit of adventure, and their enthusiasm for taking on new challenges, which makes complete sense given how Sofia is celebrating Lunar New Year in her game:

    We are entering the Year of the Tiger, which just like all the other signs comes along every twelve years. I happen to have been born in a tiger year, but that wasn’t the only reason that I elbowed everyone out of the way to pay homage to the brave and powerful feline. I love all kinds of animals, but those of the cat variety hold a special place in my heart. Maybe it’s because they are the exact opposite of me, or perhaps it’s just their inspirational nature that appeals to me. Either way, I wanted to welcome the Year of the Tiger to Minecraft by gathering all the felines of Minecraft together. And since it’s the year of the water tiger, I am going to try to bathe them all. Wish me as much luck as I wish you all! 

    Loud noises (such as Sofia regretting her decision to bathe cats) are very welcome at Lunar New Year! That’s because it’s believed loud sounds will scare away the mythological Nian, a beast who was said to come into towns and villages looking for food once a year. In order to dissuade Nian from attacking, fireworks and firecrackers are set off, red decorations are hung and food offerings are made. Which leads me onto how I am choosing to celebrate Lunar New Year:

    As someone who spends 90% of my game time dissuading mobs from attacking me, I want to celebrate Lunar New Year by crafting my first ever set of fireworks! This time of year is a time for new beginnings, and so it feels like a great chance for me to reinvent myself as a fearless warrior. As us Minecrafters know, some of the firework materials require a fair bit of fighting to come by, so I’m starting my year off by doing something I’m normally too scared to attempt: defeating a creeper or three. Over 19 play hours and 33 in-game respawns later, I did it! That’s got to be a speed-crafting record, right? It was all worth it though, because now I can celebrate the new lunar year with my very first in-game fireworks show and scare away Nian at the same time! 

    A story in four parts: my nemesis

    An unexpected defeat

    Ah, don't you love the smell of redstone at dusk?

    And finally! Fireworks!

    After all that excitement, I’ve sure worked up an appetite, and let’s be honest, the food is the best part of celebrating, isn’t it? What you eat to celebrate Lunar New Year can depend on where you’re from and the traditions specific to your family, too. In Hong Kong for example, sticky dumplings called tong jyun are popular, not just because they’re delicious, but also because their name sounds like “reunion”, which is what celebrating Lunar New Year is all about! That’s the spirit in which Cristina Anderca has been celebrating Lunar New Year this year, but with a slightly different table guest:

    Fireworks and tigers are stunning, but I prefer admiring them from afar. That’s why I took it upon myself to prepare a Lunar New Year feast! But since my real-life attempts at cooking only lead to bitter disappointment and dirty dishes, I’ve decided to treat my most neglected virtual friends: the villagers. Almost every playthrough, I raid their chests and farms with abandon, but now it’s time to give back. Well, not technically, I’m keeping their stuff. But I’ve set up a beautiful buffet with all the dishes they could possibly want. The best part? Unlike my real friends, they can’t complain that “the chicken is still pink” or “the cake is salty” – after all,  hrmmm sounds just like mmmmm! Bon appétit!

    So now you know what we’ll be doing for the next two weeks, the only question is: how will you be celebrating? Let us know! And don’t forget to check out Minecraft Marketplace for some free Lunar New Year goodies. Happy Year of the Tiger, everyone! 

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