Monday 26th January marked the first day of the Chinese New year the yer of the Ox.
Ox years are: 1901, 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009 and 2021.
The Chinese Zodiac.
The Chinese zodiac consists lunar years being represented by twelve different animals each year represented by a different animal. According to the Lunar calendar, the twelve animals in order are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.
This year, 2009, will be the year of the Ox.
According to the legend, the Jade Emperor, the supreme god and ruler of the heaven in Chinese mythology, invited all the animals in creation to take part in a race. The prize for the first twelve animals to finish the race was an opportunity to appear on the Chinese Zodiac calendar in the order in which they completed the race. The first animal to across the finish line was the rat, who used his brain to win the race, a poor swimmer, the rat talked the honest and simple-minded ox into taking it across the river on the ox's back. As they approached the finish line, the rat jumped off the ox's back and zipped across the line, putting it in first place in the race. The ox, which should have won the race, came in second and as promised in the legends and mythology, was the second animal listed on the Chinese Zodiac.
It is believed that an individual's traits, characteristics and personality are greatly influenced by the animal of the particular year they are born in. People born in the Year of the Ox are very much like the stereotype of the animal itself - dependable, calm and modest. Ox people, like the animal itself, are unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint. They are not social or party animals, and they tend to be quiet when in groups. Some people might accuse them of being strong-minded and stubborn, but in fact people born under the influence of the Ox are said to be kind, caring souls who are logical and positive-thinking and filled with common sense; they have their feet firmly planted on the ground. Security is the main preoccupation in life for ox people, and they are prepared to toil long and hard in order to provide a warm, comfortable and stable nest for themselves and their families.
Ox people include: Vincent Van Gogh, Walt Disney, Charles Chaplin and Anthony Hopkins as well as George Clooney.
Celebrating the Chinese Spring Festival.
The Chinese Spring Festival lasts for fifteen days. The first week is the most important and most often celebrated with visits to friends and family as well as greetings of good luck. The celebrations end with the important and colorful Lantern Festival on the evening of the 15th day of the first lunar month. However, Chinese believe that on the third day of the Spring Festival it is not appropriate to visit family and friends, and call the day "chi kou", meaning "easy to get into arguments". The date of Spring Festival is determined by the Lunar Calendar. The same calendar is used in countries that have adopted the Confucian and Buddhism tradition and in many cultures influenced by the Chinese, notably the Koreans, the Japanese, and the Vietnamese. Spring Festival starts on the first day of the first lunar month containing a new moon (some sources even include the Spring Festival's Eve) and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. This occurs around the time of the full moon as each lunation is about 29.53 days long. In the Gregorian calendar, Spring Festival falls on different dates each year, sometime between January 21 and February 20.
On the days before Spring Festival celebration, Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning, believing that the cleaning sweeps away bad luck and preparing their homes for good luck to arrive. All brooms and dust pans are put away on Spring Festival's Eve so that good luck can't be swept away and some people give their homes, doors and windowpanes a new coat of red paint.Homes are decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets (short phrases) that speak of "happiness", "wealth", "longevity".
