It's a time for celebration, parades, fireworks, two guys running around in a dragon costume and eating out at your favorite Chinese restaurant. That's right, today is Chinese new year.
It’s a time for celebration, parades, fireworks, two guys running around in a dragon costume and eating out at your favourite Chinese restaurant. That’s right – today is Chinese New Year!
Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Really? February 7th? I thought it was, like, in January. Ah, next Year it’ll be in January, last year it wasn’t…how does that work?
The Chinese New Year is based off lunar cycles. You know, like, full moon blue moon… full moon… new moon… waxing gibbous moon?
So it doesn’t really match up with our Western calendar. The Western zodiac is made up of 12 constellations that the sun passes through, so you get through all 12 in about a year. Whereas, in the Chinese zodiac, there are 12 animals, but each one represents a different year – a different lunar year – in a twelve year cycle…does that make sense?
[While demonstrating somewhat awkwardly...]
The sun stays like this, and we go like this, and the moon moves like this, and we move like this…and so it’s like…this.
Now, while you’re eating dinner tonight at your favourite Chinese place, you might look down and see under your plate a paper placement with a bunch of animals on it. Waiting for the fried won-tons to get there, you’ll get into a riveting discussion about how funny, and appropriate, it is that your sister is a horse, and your brother’s a rat…
So, what’s the deal – why animals, and how did it all get started?
For that, we have to take you to KungFu Theatre!
[In Chinese voiceover - with asynchronous lip-sync]
One day, a bunch of animals were fighting – Hoo! KungFu! – to find out who should be the head of the cycle of years. They asked the gods to decide and a contest was held. They said, “The first animal to cross the river would be the first year, and so on.” The rat – that little weasel – hitched a ride on the ox’s back and jumped off, getting to the other side first. The ox, obviously, came in second, and the pig, because he’s lazy, showed up last. So, the official order is, rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, boar – WAIT! BOAR is not pig! Wait, boar is pig… okay.
Now, if you’re birthday’s at the beginning of the year, you might not be the animal you think you are. Remember, the Chinese calendar is based on the moon, not the sun, and the two are very different. In 2007, Chinese New Year’s was on February 18th. This year, obviously, it’s today [February 7th, 2008], and next year it’ll be on January 26th. So, if your birthday’s in January or February, go to the handy web site we’ve linked to below and enter in your birth date. Then, you might find out that you’re not actually a horse but a snake instead…sorry Rachel. But you’re husband’s a dragon, so being a snake kind of makes sense.
As for us, I’m a tiger [Grrr], and the guy hiding behind the dragon…he’s a dragon. But he’s not a scary dragon – dragons in china are good luck – he’s a happy dragon. [whispered] A fat, happy dragon.
I’m like buddha, without a belly. Well, I’ve got a little belly – it’s a little, buddha belly. It’s almost indetectable, but it’s there.
Transcribed by: Ian
What animal are you?
We don’t buy into the whole “predicting your future” part of this astrology website, but you can use it to find your Chinese Zodiac.
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2 Comments
Allan
HAHAHAHA....That was AMAZING!!!!Meandering
So I went to the site and found out I'm a Sheep and my element is Earth. Semi-accurate, but interesting none-the-less. Baa!