Chinese Traditions

The Dragon Boat Festival 端午節 (for 2021, it falls on Monday, June 14th) is not only about boat races and delicious rice dumplings, but since ancient times was a time to focus on health.  The lunar date of the Festival, the 5th day of the 5th month, was considered a poisonous and evil day in the minds of the ancients. In fact, as this date signaled the beginning of hot, dry/muggy summer weather, people were prone to get sick, and plagues and epidemics were not uncommon. Various customs developed to ensure peace and avoid disaster, such as collecting herbs, hanging moxa, sprinkling realgar wine on walls, doors, and windows and drinking Pu huang wine. Read on to learn more about this ancient tradition!

For practitioners of Chinese medicine, the black interior and paradoxical white feathered exterior represent and mirror the consolidation of Yin and Yang. Thus, the black-skinned silkie chicken is considered especially valuable medicinally and nutritionally. In Chinese dietary therapy all black foods are considered to be very helpful for treating Kidney disharmonies and the Blood, because black is the color associated with water and with the Kidneys in the five phases/wu xing.

We're sharing a delicious and time-honored family recipe. It contains nutrients derived from pork and black chicken, as well as tonifying herbs to promote a woman’s optimal health during pregnancy.

We all know herbs are amazingly effective, but have you ever wondered how their secrets were discovered? Did Shen Nong really taste them all and watch their effects in his see-through belly? How did they get their names? What are their backstories? Dr. Skye Sturgeon reads an excerpt from the book Chinese Herbal Legends where we learn the legend of Dang Gui.

During the last year, many have experienced weariness, loss of loved ones, or lingering effects from long-term illness depleting our Yin (our reserves). As we move into Spring with a renewed sense of optimism, we would like to share one of our favorite family recipes for health and healing. Check out the recipe, techniques, and suggested cookware!

The Chinese New Year begins on midnight on the day of the second (or third) new moon following the winter solstice. This year it is February 12th. The hexagram associated with the first month and the approach of Spring is 泰 Tài. As with the case with many Chinese words, tài is polysemous. Originally, it meant “more than” or “most” indicating a condition of more than great. Various translators render Tài as safety, security, peacefulness, and some suggest progression and advancement. I prefer “tranquility”.

The Lunar New Year in 2021 brings us the Year of the Metal Ox. After 2020, I’m sure we’re all glad to say goodbye to the pesky Rat! Let’s analyze what the Ox has in store. According to Chinese philosophy, we have the concepts of Yin and Yang, Heaven, Earth and Humanity. These are the building blocks of the universe. Every year, the energy of the year is determined by the energy of Heaven and Earth. Because we, as “Humanity” live in between Heaven and Earth, we are affected by their energies as well as by the energy of the specific year. The Heaven energy for 2021 is Metal. 2020 was also a Metal year, and because we have a Yin year and a Yang year for each element, 2020 was Yang Metal. 2021 is a Yin Metal year. Thus, we have the year of the Yin Metal Ox. You may also see 2021 referred to as the year of the White Ox, since the color of Metal is white, and some people refer to the energy of the Heavenly Qi by color...

For the last 3,000 years, Chinese people have celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the 8th month on the Lunar calendar (Thursday, October 1st this year). This important holiday gathers family and friends to give thanks for a good harvest and to celebrate the harmony between each other and in society. In these challenging times especially, it is also a time to pray for peace and a good future.

"The Book of Changes contains the measure of Heaven and Earth; therefore, it enables us to comprehend the Tao of Heaven and Earth and its order. Looking forward, we contemplate with its help the signs of the Heavens; looking down, we examine the lines of the Earth. Thus, we come to know the circumstances of the dark and the light. Going back to the beginning of things and pursuing them to the end, we come to know the lessons of birth and death."

March is National Kidney Awareness Month, and while "kidney" means more than the physiological kidneys in TCM, we want to spotlight one of the most essential and popular kidney formulas in traditional Chinese Medicine: Liu Wei Di Huang Tang. This humble six-ingredient formula to tonify Liver & Kidney Yin, created by Qian Yi and recorded in his “Key to Therapeutics of Children's Diseases" 小儿药证直诀 around 900 years ago, forms the basis of a myriad of modifications. According to the folks at Lanzhou Foci (who make our Plum Flower® version), Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is the most popular classical TCM formula used in China today. Read More

Welcome to the Year of the Rat! Not only is 2020 the start of a new decade, but in Chinese astrology, the Rat is the start of a new twelve year cycle. There are twelve animals in the Chinese Zodiac, thus the twelve years in the cycle, beginning with the Rat. It's an excellent time to plan and set intentions for this next cycle of life. This is the fourth 12-year cycle in the current 60-year cycle which means this is the year of the Metal Rat. Metal is cool, dry, hard, and forceful. Metal also represents justice, or right versus wrong...

Mayway invites you to come celebrate the full moon, bounty of the season and enjoy a gathering of TCM professionals. We have some delicious Chinese herb dishes planned, so swing by to taste them and get a recipe card! Take a free 1.5 CEU class - on the Treatment of Chinese Herbs with Sulfur Fumigation, taste herbal soups, extract powders, moon cakes and more!

In 2019 we shifted from the Yang of the Earth Dog year to the Yin of the Earth Pig (or Boar). The easy-going Pig is not without his issues! The energetics of the year can influence everything from the weather forecast to the kinds of illness that will be prevalent in our patients. Learn what to expect so you can have the right treatments in mind and the right herbs on hand.