Sherry Sim : Year of the Pig

Year of the Pig

Gong Hei Fatt Choy! Welcome to the Chinese New Year Year of the Pig!

I took some days off to celebrate Chinese New Year, that began on February 18, 2007, which kicked off the Chinese year 4705 for the Year of the Pig. Chinese New Year, a.k.a. Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year, is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. The festival proper begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and last for fifteen days.

Chinese New Year celebrations are essentially a family affair: a time of family renuion, and thanksgiving. Families visit each other and feast together. Traditionally, people wear new clothes, preferably red, as that is considered an ausipicious color. Red symbolizes fire, which can supposedly drive away bad luck. Festivities are augmented by fireworks. Money is placed in "lai-see envelopes" or "hong-bao" (red packets) and given to children and young adults at New Year’s time, much in the spirit as Christmas presents. Presents are also often exchanged between families. As a kid, I used to compare the amount of "hong bao" collected with those of my siblings. It's fun time to look forward to, and lots of sumptuous food to sample.

According to legend, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve showed up, and Buddha named a year after each animal. He declared that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. The twelveth animal that arrived was the pig. It is said that those born in the pig years tend to have excellent manners, make and keep friends, work very hard and appreciate luxury.

Some Famous Pigs include: Bryan Adams, Woody Allen, Julie Andrews, Fred Astaire, Richard Attenborough, Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss, Farrah Fawcett, Ernest Hemingway, Barry Gibb, Alfred Hitchcock, Elton John, Kevin Kline, David Letterman, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dudley Moore, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Marie Osmond, Michale Parkinson, Lee Remick, Ginger Rogers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Spielberg, Emma Thompson.

Incidentally, the lucky numbers associated with the pig are: 1, 3 ,4, 5, 8, 16, 34, 41, 48. Its equivalent Western sign is Scorpio.

So, which year were you born? Check the Chinese Zodiac out for yourself:

The Rat 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008	The Ox 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009	The Tiger 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010
The Rabbit 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011	The Dragon 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000	The Snake 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001
The Horse 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954,1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014	The Ram 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015	The Monkey 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016
The Rooster 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017	The Dog 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018	The Pig 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019