Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐
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| a Spring Festival display at Bangkok's airport |
Today is the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), and the very first day of the Year of the Rat. This year is a special one. The rat is the first in the 12-year repeating Chinese zodiac cycle. Since 2020 is also the first year of a new decade, it's the first time since 1960 that the Chinese and Western calendars have aligned! This year is due to be an auspicious one, and Chinese astrology names it the Year of the Golden Rat!
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| lucky rat charms for the Spring Festival |
The Year of the Rat has an interesting Chinese legend that goes along with it.
When the Jade Emperor (the Taoist god of heaven) was arranging the Chinese zodiac, he summoned twelve animals to compete for a place in the order of the 12-year cycle. The cat asked the rat to wake him up so that he would be on time, but the rat, afraid of the competition posed by the cat, failed to do so.
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| golden rats for the Year of the Rat |
When only eleven animals showed up to meet the Jade Emperor, his advisers had to scramble to bring the first animal they found in order to make up the full cycle. They found a pig, who now represents the final year in the zodiac cycle. The rat was given a place of honor as the very first year in a new cycle.
The bitter cat, who failed to receive a place in the Chinese zodiac, swore to be the rat's mortal enemy for all time. Hence why all cats seem to love hunting rats and mice.
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| lucky rats at Big C |
People born in the Year of the Rat (1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020) are said to be clever, quick, and energetic.
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| another airport display |
The Spring Festival isn't an official holiday in Thailand. People won't get time off from work or school like in China or Taiwan, but it's still a big deal. Especially in Bangkok and southern Thailand where a large percentage of the population has some Chinese ancestry, the Spring Festival is still an important part of the culture.
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| a Guanyin shrine set up at the Gourmet Market supermarket near where I live |
The Spring Festival is a fifteen day festival when people make a new start. It's time to clean the house, spend quality time with family, and try to make a better start for the new year. Especially this year, when the cycle and decade align, the year is seen as an especially auspicious one for changes and new starts.
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| crazy expensive Chinese New Year apples ($12!) to give as gifts for the Spring Festival |
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