John Lydgate | Singapore Magicians & Mentalists Coven

Phew it was a hectic week for the entire team and we are glad we made through the numerous shows during the joyful month of love: Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day.

Lunar New Year

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Happy Lunar New Year to you! May the Year of the Snake bring you greater abundance of wealth, good health and happiness!

If you’re not around the region, Chinese across the globe will be celebrating the Chinese/Lunar New Year or Spring Festive from 10th to 12th February 2013. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month based on the lunar/lunisolar calendar and ends on the 15th day.

Typically before the celebration, people will be pampering themselves through retail therapy. New clothing is said to symbolize the mark of the new year. It is also said to be good to thoroughly clean homes and offices to usher in the good luck. This festive season also brings people together, the entire family will participate with the purchasing of festive goodies, decorating the homes and buying grocery.

During the festive day, there is house visitation to kin, relatives and friends. A pair of Mandarin oranges are also being exchange with the host to symbolizes exchange of blessing. Red envelopes (hongbao [mandarin] or angpao [hokkien]) are given by the married to the unmarried, this is to symbolize well wishing and blessing. It is said that the more you give the more blessings you will receive.

At ATOM, we had so much fun performing in sync with Lunar New Year celebration!

If you didn’t manage to check us at some of our live shows, here’s a consultation prize for you; a performance of Lu Chen and Cyril Takayama during a TV special:

Valentine’s Day

The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century.

This year we found ourselves working with several couple who wanted to use magic to charm their other half. And MAGIC works… here’s proof of Criss Angel charming then model-girlfriend Holly Madison with his “love spell”.