Happy Chinese New Year!  Year of the Goat!

In the spirit of the New Year, I thought a blog on Chinese astrology would be fun!

This Thursday, the 19th of February, marks the start of the Chinese New Year.  In China, the New Year celebration is 7 days long and is considered the most important time of the year.  These celebrations started about 4,000 years ago…talk about tradition!  During this time, families get together for dinners- often Chinese dumplings (which bring good fortune), parades, dragon dances, and other festivals.  Red is the lucky color associated with the New Year, so you can see it all over the place in clothing, lanterns, tapestries, gift wrappings, confetti, and more! 
In the Chinese zodiac calendar, there are 12 different animals that rotate in order- one each year.   Last year was the horse.  This year is the goat (or sheep according to some sources).   Just like with western astrology, with Chinese astrology, when we were born supposedly dictates our character, likes, dislikes, and more.  During the New Year celebrations, the zodiac animal is also celebrated.

The most recent goat years before 2015 were 2003, 1991, 1979, 1967…and so on.  Are you a goat?  And what does that mean for you, especially during a goat year?  Well goats are supposed to be gentle, kind, shy, and creative.   Although they do not like to be in the limelight, they do like to be near other people most of the time.  However, they still value their privacy, so it can take a while for a goat to really let you in their circle.  Because of their calm nature, goats tend to not get sick as often as other signs.  The best jobs for a goat involve team work of some sort.  Their best love matches are rabbits, horses, and pigs, and their worst love matches are oxen, dragons, snakes, and dogs.  Finally, if you’re a goat and thinking about playing the lottery…your lucky numbers are 2 and 7.  However, be careful as 2015 might bring financial loss if you’re not careful!

If you want to learn more about Chinese New Year, check out this link:

http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/special-report/chinese-new-year/

And to learn more about the sign of the goat, look here:

http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/goat.asp