The year of the rooster

Happy Chinese New year, everyone! Today we welcome the year of the rooster. Chinese, or the lunar new year, is an event that has gained popularity in the west, too. Sydney allegedly has the biggest lunar new year celebrations outside of Asia but that might just a marketing trick :) Lunar new year will be celebrated for about two weeks, so there will be a lot to see and do. Yesterday we went to see the fireworks near Opera House. There are zodiac animal lanterns in the harbor and the Opera House and some other Sydney landmark building shine red in the night. Red is traditionally the color of the lunar new year as it is associated with good luck.

The red Opera House and fireworks

I wanted to write about the beliefs connected to the Chinese zodiac. Are you familiar with the Chinese zodiac? Whereas western time is linear, the Chinese time occurs in 12 year cycles, each year having its own zodiac animal. The animals are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig. Some of the animals might vary in different countries. (Like in Vietnam, the rabbit has been replaced by the cat.) BTW, there is a reason for the order of the animals to be like it is, you can read it here. It is a lovely story. 

The lucky dragon

Anna's zodiac sign is the ox

Whereas the western horoscope doesn't really differentiate between more wanted and less wanted signs, the Chinese zodiac has preferred signs and less preferred signs. Dragon is usually seen as the most auspicious sign of them all. A child born in the year of the dragon will be a happy and successful person. Last January, my friend told me she is pregnant. ”Now is the year of the monkey. In Vietnam, people try to avoid having a baby in the year of the monkey. These children are thought to have a difficult life or to be difficult to raise”, she said. Same goes for tiger, snake and pig. Especially being a woman born in the year of the less appreciated signs is difficult. They have worse marriage prospects than women with more auspicious signs and they are less likely to receive a warm welcome from their in-laws. Actually, in Japan, it was traditionally believed that a woman born in the year of the horse brings bad luck to her husband. Not much appreciation is shown towards the year of the sheep (or goat), the people carrying this sign are also seen as, well, sheepish and meek, and thus not very successful.

The interactive wall of fortune 

As I mentioned, there are twelve zodiac animals, so every twelve years we are all back to the year of the animal of our birth year. Now, it would be easy to assume that the own year would be especially lucky, but never assume anything when it comes to Chinese philosophy or astrology. During your own year shitty luck is your constant companion and you can expect to encounter every possible misery starting with divorce and ending with a skull fracture.

Superstition? Don't believe in the zodiac system? Could be it's all bullshit but it is powerful bullshit. These days when family planning is more widely available, couples who believe in the system are more likely to have a baby in the year of an animal that fits in the family. They want the family to have well matching signs. In the countries where the zodiac system is believed in, birth rates tend to peak in the year of the dragon and fall in the year of less wanted zodiac signs. (That depend on the country as countries that have adopted the Chinese system also have their own beliefs about the general luckiness of the signs). Now, it seems that the year of the dragon, for example, doesn't bring much good luck anymore. See, there are more kids to share the same limited resources. Class sizes are bigger, there are eventually more people who compete for entrance to universities and apply for the same jobs. So, good bye lucky dragon. After all, it might be easier to be born in the year of the monkey. I also think that the Chinese horoscope might not apply to western people. I was born in the year of the dragon but I'm still waiting for the luck to strike me.