Yesterday marked the start of the Chinese New Year, the longest and most important celebration on the Chinese calendar.
Ancient lore holds that thousands of years ago, Buddha asked all of the animals to meet him on the Chinese New Year. Twelve showed up. Their prize: Buddha decided to name a year after each one with the thought that people born in the year of a particular animal’s name would have some of the animal’s personality traits.
This year, 2007, is the Year of the Pig.
Chinese New Year usually starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later.
Red clothing is traditionally worn during the new year in the belief that red scares away evil spirits and bad fortune. On the first day of Chinese New Year, families will typically visit the oldest members of their extended family and dine on chicken, duck, and fish dishes as well as dumplings and mandarin oranges.
Year of the Pig festivities will be celebrated for the next two weeks and then we won't see the Pink Porker again until 2019.
I'm not Chinese, of course. I'm not wearing red today, nor will I be eating oranges or ducks (for which Pink Duck has thanked me profusely -- quack). I love the lore and traditions of all cultures, though. And I love the inter-relatedness (is that a word?) of all cultures. If you dig deeply enough, it becomes clear that at the center of each tradition lies the essence of the same traditions celebrated by all the other cultures. It's the six degrees of separation on a global scale. We are fam-uh-lee... And it is also true that at the core of every legend lies a kernel of truth. We should never brush off or disregard the legends of any culture for, in the end, they are also our own.
I am not a pig, either, but I love the little oinkers. Little pink baby pigs are adorable. I'm neither a baby nor pink nor adorable, but I'm told I can be very pig-headed. Personally, I take that as a compliment.
If a pig could fly, would his name be Pigasus?
Today's crop of Words Gone Wild shaped up thusly:
cousel
harassement
weasal
chaitable organization
canidate
equiptment
increasing its spee
won't eath anything
Twisted Linguistics shook them up and popped out this:
If she won't eath anything, cousel her. It could be a case of harassement by a weasal canidate with equiptment in the chaitable organization increasing its spee. If she, on the other hand, can't spee, give her a Depends and send her on a long drive to give an astronaut harassement. That will eath her asse. Space, ho!
What year should you have been born under?
| You Should Have Been Born Under: |
 You are totally loyal, faithful, and honest. However, you don't trust others to be as ethical as you are! Straight forward and direct, you really aren't one for small talk. You are a great listener - and an agreeable companion when you're in a good mood! You are most compatible with a Tiger or Horse. |
12 comments:
LOL @ "Pigasus"
Saw parts of a short special feature on the Chinese New Year yesterday, but I'm afraid I was reconciling my checkbook at the time and didn't absorb very much of it.
Hey SJ me liked todays post a lot.
the hew years celebrations in Hong Kong are wild. If you ever get the chance to see them you'll be blown away. Everyone wears red and sets off firecrackers to scare away Nien an evil dragon type monster. And the kids love it cause they get cash from their parents (kinda wish it were like that fer me way back when)
Interesting idea about the six degrees of seperation on a global scale. Do ya think it leads us back to the tower of babylon.
Sounds like this comment. Babylon, babble on...
***You Should Have Been Born Under:***
You are solid, methodical, and you do things right the first time.
Even when no one else does, you always believe in yourself.
You tend to see the world in black and white, right or wrong.
A good memory and eye for details means you tend to thrive at near impossible tasks.
You are most compatible with a Snake or Rooster.
Ummmm...by Chinese astrology, I'm rightfully a 'monkey'....by the quiz I'm a 'horse'...so I guess that means I can horse around as well as monkey around! ;)
I was supposed to be a dog.
You are totally loyal, faithful, and honest.
However, you don't trust others to be as ethical as you are!
Straight forward and direct, you really aren't one for small talk.
You are a great listener - and an agreeable companion when you're in a good mood!
You are most compatible with a Tiger or Horse.
Misty said you have some code showing, but I don't see it, yet. She didn't say where she saw it, but I know she was going to check out the post on love songs.
Like your Twisted L. story, S-Joy!
I should have been year of the horse, apparently. I think I'm actually Dog.
I didn't see that, Mike. Not because I was balancing my checkbook -- that takes like 2 minutes.
Thanks, SM; glad you enjoyed it. New Years in Hong Kong sounds like a blast. As for Babylon, it could. I don't think anything is patently impossible. And there's not that much distance between 6 degrees.
Roxan, under ... which one?
Horsing around and doing some monkey business sounds like fun to me, Lee.
Thanks for letting me know I'm showing my code, Lesia. If Misty's reading, let me know where it is because I can't see it.
Thanks, Littlebird. This is an interesting turn -- you, Lesia, and I made Year of the Dog. Dogs, of course, can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.
I've been wading around in some computer hell all evening, and now I'm going to charge back in with the biggest sword I can find and either root out the evil or ... go to bed.
Weird, didn't realize it hadn't picked up the animal. It was OX, but I don't think that really fits me. Maybe, maybe not.
It's the year of the ram for me.
You're most comfortable inside your head - and often daydream the day away.
You have an artistic temperament that makes you seem creative to some, eccentric to others.
You avoid conflict at all costs, and you have a difficult time with relationships.
Attractive and with good manners, you tend to shine in social situations.
You are most compatible with a Pig or Rabbit.
Hey, that's no fair! The turtle had a darned good reason for being late!
Let's hear the excuse, Pugsy.:)
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