Thursday, February 3, 2011

Year of the Rabbit

Happy Chinese New Year



Coming after the tumultuous Year of the Tiger, the year of the rabbit may give us a break. According to the lunar horoscope, the rabbit is naturally happy and a homebody. So put up your feet and enjoy your home. In China, there’s no housecleaning on New Year’s Day – it would wash away the good fortune.

The Chinese Lunar New Year is the longest chronological record in history, dating from 2600BC, when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the zodiac. Like the Western calendar, The Chinese Lunar Calendar is a yearly one, with the start of the lunar year being based on the cycles of the moon. Therefore, because of this cyclical dating, the beginning of the year can fall anywhere between late January and the middle of February. This year it falls on February 12th. A complete cycle takes 60 years and is made up of five cycles of 12 years each.







The Chinese Lunar Calendar names each of the twelve years after an animal. Legend has it that 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."











4 comments:

nonnie9999 said...

is the rabbit safe as long as glenn blechhh has access to a chainsaw?

Fran said...

Sounds like one of those Zen Koans!

D.K. Raed said...

I'm a rabbit ... YEAAYYY ... it's MY year ... unless ... they find the same mistake as the horoscope and insert an Ophirabbit.

(nonnie is referring to mr blech's recent stage debut of a rabbit in one hand and a chain saw in the other ... not sure of his point ... except he is too nuts for zen to koan him)

Fran said...

Oh! I missed the debacle of the Beck freak show w rabbit & chainsaw-- probably just as well.

How is that lunatic still on the airwaves?????