Happy lunar new year! (Nam Moi!) It's the year of the Rooster, so for all of you born in 1993, 1981, 1969, 1957... etc... it's your year and it only comes once every 12 years, so be proud and wear all your roosterisms on your sleeve. I'm not actually sure if the significance of one's year-- either it's good and lucky, or you have to be extra careful all the time... all the details and explanations are pretty confusing.
Never one to spare interesting facts, here are some bits of trivia I dug up about the new year:
-"The rooster is generally regarded as a good symbol but with one flaw. For the superstitious, the Rooster year is an ominous time to tie the wedding knots as it features a lunar anomaly. The Chinese newspapers have been reporting the tales of couples rushing to get married before the so-called 'widow year' begins."
-"Legend has it that the Lord Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he departed from earth. Only twelve came to bid him farewell and as a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The Chinese believe the animal ruling the year in which a person is born has a profound influence on personality, saying 'This is the animal that hides in your heart.'"
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-"A common Vietnamese belief is that the first person to enter a house at New Year will bring either good or bad luck. The Vietnamese also believe that there is a [Kitchen] god in every home who travels to heaven at the New Year. In heaven, this god will reveal how good or bad each member of the family has been in the past year."
Every year since I can remember, on the eve of the new year around 11:55 PM, my parents will leave the house and drive around the neighborhood for a little while, then come back and ring the doorbell to be the first official people to enter our home in the New Year. Same thing happened last night, but I had to drag myself out of half-sleep to greet them with a smile and a new year's greeting.
Wishing everyone health, happiness, and good fortune in the coming year!
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