獨dú在zài異yì鄉xiāng為wéi異yì客kè，每měi逢féng佳jiā節jié倍bèi思sī親qīn

What does 獨在異鄉為異客，每逢佳節倍思親 (dú zài yì xiāng wéi yì kè měi féng jiā jié bèi sī qīn) mean?

獨在異鄉為異客，每逢佳節倍思親 (dú zài yì xiāng wéi yì kè měi féng jiā jié bèi sī qīn) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "alone in a strange land as a strange guest, every festival doubly think of kin." In use it means: Far from home, every holiday makes one miss family twice as much. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Earth note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Dog.

Literally: "alone in a strange land as a strange guest, every festival doubly think of kin."

The reading

The festival arrives with its smells and sounds, and for the one who is far away it is precisely these that open the distance rather than close it. Celebration in exile is also a form of grief, the particular ache of knowing what is happening somewhere else that you are not part of. Missing is love at a distance, doing what it can.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element土 Earth
• Zodiac tie狗 Year of the Dog

Source Wang Wei 王維·《九月九日憶山東兄弟》 (Jiǔ Yuè Jiǔ Rì Yì Shāndōng Xiōngdì, Tang Dynasty poem)

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Home, Family & Roots, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.