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24 November | 2022 Feature Day 9: Birthday of the Jade Emperor, the supreme deity of Taoism—either a religion or a philosophy where the Tao is the source of everything and the ultimate principle underlying reality. But Taoism teaches the disciplines needed to achieve perfection via self-cultivation. Days 10-12: are nothing specifi c—just a time to eat and be merry with family and friends. Day 13: Nothing specifi c, except that after all of the eating of foods, this day is meant to eat foods that will ease the digestive system. It's always a day to go lantern shopping. Day 14: Decorate the lanterns that you bought yesterday, because … Day 15: Celebrate the Lantern Festival, the fi nal day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, when lanterns with lights are placed upon a moving waterway, to symbolize letting go of the past. Note that this Lantern Festival is diff erent from the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also known as the Lantern Festival in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Know your fl oral community. Here are some plants you could consider stocking up on—some better representative of the holiday than others: lucky bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana); money tree (Pachira aquatica); orchids, which symbolize fertility and abundance in the new year ; jade plant (Crassula ovata); Chinese money plant (Pilea peperomioides); and calamondin orange tree (x Citrofortunella mitis), which is considered a good- luck charm of sorts for a "fruitful" new year mostly because "orange" sounds similar to a Chinese-language word for wealth. e next celebration begins on Jan. 22, 2023—the " Year of the Rabbit," and Feb. 4, 2024, is the fi rst day of the " Year of the (Green) Dragon." Cinco de Mayo If you know your Spanish, is the annual May 5 anniversary of Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza, when a ragtag underdog defeated the better-armed and larger French force. While some celebrants will don Mexican and French battle gear from the 1860s and reenact the battle, almost everyone else takes in the traditional dances, great food, Mariachi music, and colorful dress and decorations. It's a party, and everyone is welcome. While celebrants usually create or purchase paper fl owers for decorations, the Floribunda rose cultivar 'Cinco de Mayo' was introduced in 2009 by Weeks Roses, a rose hybridizer in Wasco, Calif. Day of the Dead / Día de los Muertos Día de los Muertos is a Mexican-heritage celebration during which family and friends gather to pay respects to and remember those who have died. Not a solemn observance, it's a celebration of the departed's life with recollections of funny anecdotes and events. e celebrants create an altar (ofrenda) that they decorate with candles, food, tequila or Mezcal, photos and other personal items of the dead. Oh, and, of course, fl owers. Flowers for the ofrenda are usually marigolds (orange and golden yellows), but other fl owers are used depending on the region. As such, an ofrenda can also be adorned with cockscomb, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, stock and baby's breath. Day of the Dead is always celebrated on Nov. 2. Floribunda rose 'Cinco de Mayo'

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