5 Fab Facts (Episode 34)

Feb 17, 2021

fab facts

5 Fab Facts heard on latest episode

Below are the top 5 Fab Facts heard on Episode 34 of Newsy Pooloozi!

In this episode we talked about the one-and-a-half billion people around the world who are celebrating the Year of the Ox – we discussed what it means and why it’s celebrated in February. But in the US the Year of the Ox is already creating trouble with record-breaking winter snow storms sweeping across half the country. We had a report from our correspondent in Austin, Texas. But while snow can create chaos, it can also create art – at least it did for an artist from Finland, who created a humungous snowflake out of, well, snow! We also played the sounds from a 17-thousand year old musical instrument?

And the top fab facts that came out of all that were:

FAB FACT NUMBER 1: Happy Chinese New Year! By some estimates, or rough calculations, how many people celebrate this big holiday?

About 1.5 billion people – which is over a fifth of humanity – from China and Taiwan to Vietnam and South Korea.

FAB FACT NUMBER 2: The Chinese New Year can also be called the Lunar New Year AND the Spring Festival. Why is that?

The Chinese New Year is based on the ancient lunar calendar – which is based on the cycles of the moon, usually towards the end of winter.

FAB FACT NUMBER 3: The Chinese New Year is on the first new moon of the lunar year, which occurs sometime between the end of January and the end of February. Which means it’s dark, inspiring people to do what…?

On the eve of the new year people light lanterns and set off fireworks to banish the darkness and ward off evil.

FAB FACT NUMBER 4: An artist from Finland made giant snowflakes with footprints in the snow, because it snows so much in Finland – so much that the Finnish people have how many words for it?

It’s snows so much in Finland that the Finnish language has way over 50 words for snow – though some people say there are more than a hundred words for snow.

FAB FACT NUMBER 5:

Archeologist have played one of the world’s oldest known musical instruments – the conch – what we like to call Mother Nature’s trumpet. But what is a conch?

A conch is the shell of a sea snail, which has a siphonal canal – which is a fancy way of saying the shell comes to a point at both ends – though it bulges out in the middle.