Happy Year of the Horse! The new Chinese year greets us with
the year of the Horse. The wood horse at
that or as some would say the green horse for the connection to tree.
It is said that Buddha told all the animals to come on the New
Year to him. 12 showed up and this had a month named after them. It is further
said that rat tricked Cat so that cat was not part of the Asia zodiac. It is
also said that we possess qualities of the animal we are born under.
Red is the primary color of Chinese New Year symbolic of
fire which chases away bad luck.
The celebration is very family oriented with wonderful
feasts.
The lantern festival is very special part of it where
beautifully painted lanterns are either hung up or carried in the parade. There are images of history, nature, zodiac,
on them. A rather special part of the parade
is the Dragon dance. The Dragon may well be
a hundred feet long!
If you were born in 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954,
1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, or 2014 you were born in the year of the horse.The horse personality is rather diverse: humble, impatient,
tolerant, hardworking, self-reliant. ..While the can be rather charismatic and enjoy being around
others they do their best work outside of a big group.Romantically they love intimacy and the feeling of belonging,
yet may run from it. They are most compatible with Sheep, tiger, and dog.
The year of the horse is a time of working together
harmoniously. Love and money/business ventures are favored. Feel the strong free spiritedness optimism of
horse and honor it,… and Happy Year of the Horse. Much luck and bliss to you in
this New Year!!!
The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac Animals
“The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac – or shengxiao as
they are known in Mandarin – represent the qualities and attributes of the
people born in a certain year. But how did the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon,
snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar come to typify the years,
and how did they achieve their rank from first to twelfth?
The legend is an interesting one. Each Chinese zodiac sign
and the order they rank in was decided by the mythical Jade Emperor and his
favourite creature, the rat. When the task of choosing the zodiac animals fell
to the Emperor, he asked the rat to help him. The resourceful rat decided that
the best way would be to arrange a race across the river. The order in which
the animals arrived would decide who would be second, third, fourth, and so on.
The rat put the word out across the kingdom, and the first
creature to appear on the riverbank was the cat. The pair enlisted the help of
the ox, who was resting nearby, and asked him to ferry them across the river. A
kind old soul, the ox agreed, but just as they set off, the rat pushed the cat
into the river. Hating water, the cat managed to get out and scurried away to
dry off.
Thus, the ox was the second creature to reach the opposite
shore. The strong tiger came next, followed by agile rabbit who hopped from
stone to stone and floating log. The dragon was hot on the rabbits heels, and
only came in fifth because he stopped to make rain and then help the rabbit
with a gust of wind. The horse galloped effortlessly across the river, but was
pipped to sixth place by the wily snake who was hiding on his hoof. The sheep,
monkey, and rooster arrived together on a raft, taking eighth, ninth, and 10th
places respectively. The dog was late because he had stopped for a wash in the
river, and the pig had been sleeping, so took 12th place. The poor cat finally
dragged himself over to the other side, but it was too late. His anger at the
rat has lasted through the ages, and they are still mortal enemies.”
It is okay cat has been honored alone in form of maneki-neko ( the beckoning cat) a lovely Calico Cat who is said to bring luck.
© Lisa Ann Ulibarri
