Happy Year of the Rat!!

Chinese New Year begins today and lasts about 15 days. And it's the year of the Rat.

Ever since I learned to love Chinese food in high school, I've loved reading the Chinese Zodiac placemats. Usually you find these at the less fancy restaurants (and Royal Dragon in Tulsa), but I always go through everyone whose birth year I know and compare the traits with the person. And amazingly the Zodiac seems to be pretty accurate. I'm a Snake. Here is my Zodiac:"Rich in wisdom and charm, you are romantic and deep thinking and your intuition guides you strongly. Avoid procrastination and your stingy attitude towards money. Keep your sense of humor about life. The Snake would be most content as a teacher, philosopher, writer, psychiatrist, and fortune teller." See? Pretty right on except for the romantic part. And I would never say I'm stingy with money - I'm just thrifty. But of course it's oh so true about that wisdom and charm. And who wouldn't agree completely that their Zodiac is accurate when it starts with those traits. You see how these things work, don't you?
Kyle and Alison are dragons: "Full of vitality and enthusiasm, the Dragon is a popular individual even with the reputation of being foolhardy and a "big mouth" at times. You are intelligent, gifted, and a perfectionist but these qualities make you unduly demanding on others. You would be well-suited to be an artist, priest, or politician." Absolutely, they would agree that this is accurate. Gifted and intelligent. Who would argue? Not sure that either one of them are foolhardy or big mouths. Although Colin would say that Kyle is a great "lecturer", so maybe not a bigmouth, but long-winded....? See, this can be a dangerous exercise and we've gotten into more than one heated discussion over the placemats.
You can read how accurate your Chinese Zodiac is if you click the title link.

I'm not sure how we'll celebrate Chinese New Year. Last year, we were invited by Chinese friends to the Buddhist Temple, and that was interesting. We were floating on the incense by the time the service was finished, and Alison had learned to bow every time the gong sounded. She was like Pavlov's dog. We're not much in the celebrating mode this year, so maybe we'll just find one of those placemats and talk about each other's Zodiac traits.

So if you aren't familiar with Chinese New Year, here are the facts:

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar.
The Chinese year 4706 begins on Feb. 7, 2008.
Chinese months are reckoned by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day.
New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest.
In China, people may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.
Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality.
Chinese New Year ends with the lantern festival on the fifteenth day of the month. Some of the lanterns may be works of art, painted with birds, animals, flowers, zodiac signs, and scenes from legend and history. People hang glowing lanterns in temples, and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of the full moon.
In many areas the highlight of the lantern festival is the dragon dance. The dragon—which might stretch a hundred feet long—is typically made of silk, paper, and bamboo. Traditionally the dragon is held aloft by young men who dance as they guide the colorful beast through the streets. In the United States, where the New Year is celebrated with a shortened schedule, the dragon dance always takes place on a weekend. In addition, many Chinese-American communities have added American parade elements such as marching bands and floats.

Happy Chinese New Year!!