To everyone who celebrates it.. (Though it doesn't really matter if you do or don't, just enjoy the festivities!! XD)

"Happy Chinese New Year"

Yes!! Rejoice for spring is here..... Well at least in China it is...... Short history to Chinese New Year?

If I'm not wrong, Chinese Astrologists used to calculate when spring would be coming every year, and we would celebrate, the coming of a new year, of a new harvest now that the harsh winter has passed....

However, Legend has it that, every certain number of days, this certain monster would come out... the monster was called 年 (nien, meaning year in Chinese) This monster would come every certain number of days and wreck havoc to the village for 15 days, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

So finally some wise old men... or so they say, they could have been young guys for all I know.. but apparently, this bunch of wise old men,or maybe an old man? Discovered that ,this Nien creature... Doesn't like the colour red, nor does it fancy loud sounds, and also it comes out every 300 or so days... (or at the beginning of spring??)

Hence before the predicted time, the old men/young guys/old man told the villagers to deck themselves and their houses in red and to release fireworks, for the period of 15 days... and lo and behold the Nien creature never returned... So every year they celebrate it as such........ THE END...

That's one of the stories.... I guess haha...

Okay, enough with that.. now it's the year of the Ox...... which.... I've no idea what the significance is.. Since it changes on a yearly basis.. but next year is the Tiger year, so hence the recession..... Why a recession every time it's the year of the Tiger.. Apparently because 虎, in Chinese is pronounced as "fu" which means bitter.. hence a bitter life.. Sigh......

Curious souls about the Chinese Astrology.... why do we have 12 animals and why is there no cat???

The story has it that.. one day Buddha invited all the animals for a celebration/banquet... or you may replace that with the Jade Emperor (A Heavenly being, Chinese has a lot of deities) invited all the animals to enter a race... (Am not very sure about the racing thing... But I do know about the Bhuddha celebration....Anyway...) For these events only 12 animals showed up... and they were (in sequence) the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

Thus the years of the Chinese Zodiac, were named in accordance with which animal arrived at the banquet first/ finished the race first...

Sometimes we get people asking, why isn't there a cat? If there's the rat and dog, where's the cat?

Well story has it that.. The Rat and the Cat used to be the best of mates.. But somehow when the Banquet/Race invitations were sent out.. The rat being the smart little thing it was, realised that there was bound to be some prize involved or something.. So being the cunning little thing it was.. it told the Cat that the celebrations/race was a day after the actual date.. so the Cat naturally believing it's good friend, slept through the day in which the celebration/race was held, and therefore did not make it..

The Cat upon realising it was tricked, vowed vengeance upon the rat.. and thus till today.. Cats chase and kill mice....

Another thing about the story was.. the Rat being such a small creature, how could it reach the celerbation/finish the race first...?

Well, the Rat being the cunning little being it was... rode on the back of the Ox, and just as when the Ox was about to reach the finishing line. it jumped ahead of the Ox thus being the first creature...

So now we have it that, a person being born in the year of the rat will be cited as cunning and smart... as is the same with all the other animal years.. Apparently we take on some of the characteristics of the animal in which the year we were born in...

And there we have it.... Some...little stories on our Chinese New Year...

Again, Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!!

-Oracl3-