Sunday, January 25, 2009

WELCOMING THE OX

There's a story about the twelve animals that represent the twelve year cycle in the Chinese calender that I think is cute. Apparently the rat conned the cat into believing that they were supposed to meet up at a different time and date to get picked as the top twelve, which is how the rat emerged as the very first animal in the list, and the cat didn't get a place at all, which is believed to explain the Tom and Jerry-like tendencies we see among cats and rats (Although to be honest, I have never seen any real life cat chasing any real life mouse/rat. Come to think of it, do they really?)

Anyway, tomorrow - Monday, all the Chinese people all over the world will usher in the New Year, the year of the Ox - the second animal in the list (The newspapers ran a list of famous Ox, and one of them happens to be President Obama) What I thought was interesting though, is that late Friday evening, after a meeting with the RnD Manager and the GM, I heard the Rnd Manager inform the GM that for those born in the year of the horse, getting back to work on the 28th was not very auspicious. Now based on that information, I calculated the GM's age to be 43 (or 44 if it's calculated the Chinese way, which I personally think is NOT the way to go as far as age is concerned) Hehehe.

Earlier today, the streets and malls were crowded with last minute shoppers purchasing things for the reunion dinner later tonight, and tomorrow, the people will be dressed in red, lion dances can be seen and heard, and kids (as well as anyone who is unmarried) will be receiving money from their elders in the form of Ang Pau. And as any other festival that we've seen and celebrated so far, everything is commercialized and I wonder if my other twenty something friends who are actually celebrating this festival (and not merely a spectator as I am) feel as excited about it as when they were kids?

Edit: I was born in the year of the Monkey :)

11 comments:

  1. I too had come across the story of the 12 animals and thought it was cute. Mythology has a nice way of connecting us with nature. I remember a few years ago, it was the Chinese year of the pig. People were buying live piglets of a miniature breed to be kept at home for good luck. What will they do now? :D

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  2. sounds great. I'm a year of the horse person

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  3. The cats who live with my folks believe that all mice and rats are interlopers and must be destroyed. They are quite the efficient exterminators.

    Oh...I am a Dragon.

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  4. Julia: Live piglets? They would have been cute! I'll check the papers and see what crazy thing is happening this year! :)

    Aunty: Oh, then perhaps the R&D managers advise could be applied...

    Travis: So it's true then. :)

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  5. Happy Moo Year! I do hope it is exciting for adults. Seeing kids excited about a festival always makes me envious.

    Well, maybe one can get miniature ox somewhere. However, I expect owning an ox/cow will be quite boring...we ox people are boring too I suppose. It's my year, yay! Something good and something bad. I'm just wishing for more haycholate this year.

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  6. I'm a SNAKE |-| (menacing eyes)

    I find these chinese calenders quite interesting :)

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  7. Mad Penguin: Yes, owning a cow/ox can be quite boring (and scary - sadly I'm afraid of our bovine friends!)

    Rakesh: LOL at menacing eyes. Yeah, the calendars are very interesting indeed :)

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  8. But cows are lovely... and very curious!

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  9. I'm afraid, it is their curiosity that frightens me... just a tad bit :)

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  10. And a very happy new Red State New Year to you, my dear friend ;)

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  11. Had to research Red State on the net. I must have been living in a cave as I've never heard the term used before (or might have heard, but never listened, etc)

    Learned something new today, thanks :)

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