Sunday, February 18, 2007

Chinese New Year 2007


YEAR OF THE PIG

According to Chinese Zodiac, Year of 2007 is a Year of the Pig (Fire) which begins on February 18, 2007 and ends on February 6, 2008. The Chinese New Year, i.e. Lunar New Year, does not begin on 1st of January, but on a date which corresponds with the second New Moon after the winter equinox, so it varies from year to year.

The years progress in cycles of 12 and each year is represented by an animal. The cycle of 12 repeated five times to form a large cycle of 60 years, and in each of the 12-year cycle, the animals are ascribed an element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water) with a Yin or Yang characteristics, which determines their characters. Thus, in a cycle of 60 years, no two animals are the same. The Year of the Pig is the last one in the 12-year cycle.


The Twelve Animal Signs

Rat (Yang), Ox (Yin), Tiger (Yang), Rabbit (Yin), Dragon (Yang), Snake (Yin), Horse (Yang), Sheep (Yin), Monkey (Yang), Rooster (Yin), Dog (Yang), and Pig (Yin)


Years of the Pig

02/16/1923-02/04/1924 (Water), 02/04/1935-01/23/1936 (Wood), 01/22/1947-02/09/1948 (Fire), 02/08/1959-01/27/1960 (Earth), 01/27/1971-02/15/1972 (Metal), 02/13/1983-02/01/1984 (Water), 01/31/1995-02/18/1996 (Wood), 02/18/2007-02/06/2008 (Fire), 02/04/2019-02/22/2020 (Metal)


The Pig

The Chinese name for Pig is "Zhu" (pronounced similar to zoo in English) which is a sign of honesty. The Pig is a fun and enlightening personality blessed with patience and understanding. People born under the sign of the Pig enjoy life and all it has to offer, including family and friends. They are honest and thoughtful and expect the same of other people. Pigs can be perceived as gullible because they do care about others so much they will do just about anything for a friend in need.

Pigs are more comfortable giving of their own time or attention than they are to ask others for it. They do not find asking for help an easy task and would rather carry the burden themselves. Pigs will do anything they can to maintain a sense of peace amongst family or friends. This can lead to a tendency to be taken advantage of, but Pigs basically forgive and forget everything. They are compassionate souls who simply want to keep the peace.


On the TV News tonight, they said it is the year of the Golden Boar which only comes once every 20 years.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

2 comments:

Lisa Ryan said...

Thanks for sharing all the fun info. I love Chinese New Year!

Heather in Beautiful BC said...

Hi Imma Alice, thanks for the lovely compliment on Hugo!!! He's my daughters poopy dog and I dogsit quite often. They live downstairs in our basement suite so Hugo comes to visit whenever he feels like it :) which is never too often for me!
Hugo has his own blog at

http://hugosays.blogspot.com

It's new - not quite as old as he is (5 months) but I'm enjoying helping him write his life story :)

I enjoyed reading about the Chinese New Year. My Mom started me collecting the Canada Post "Year of the ...." collector stamps 12 years ago and I think the Pig is the last in this series. I have them all - some were a little difficult to find. My brother in Vernon is picking up an uncut press sheet of the Year of the Pig for me at the main PO as there aren't any more available thru Canada Post or the PO's in Surrey.

Okay, okay, I know this isn't MY blog - I'm supposed to just comment, not write a whole book...

See ya :)