Hey Mr. Piggy

Happy New Year! I hope that 4705 is a prosperous year for you and your family.
No, I haven’t lost my mind. It’s Chinese New Year! And although New York City is famous for its New Year’s Eve celebrations in Times Square, those happening right now in Manhattan’s Chinatown attract quite a crowd too.
It’s time to say goodbye to the year of the dog and say hello to Mr. Piggy. And don’t be fooled by those who say it’s the year of the golden pig in order to sell you trinkets made of gold; it’s actually the year of the fire pig. Don’t ask me to explain this to you. The whole system is actually pretty complicated – at least it is to me. It’s based on five cycles of 12 years each and each full cycle takes 60 years to complete. Get it? Got it? Good!
The whole thing started when Buddha decided to hold a meeting with all the animals to decide which animal would represent which year. Since there were only 12 spots available, the animals had to be fast and clever to be among the first to arrive at the meeting.
In fact, this ancient story explains the rivalry between cats and rats. If you aren’t happy that cats are excluded from the New Year celebrations – blame that rat – the rat. That cheese-loving double-crosser tricked his supposed best friend – the cat – into missing the very important meeting and missing his chance to forever be immortalized in Chinese New Year’s celebrations. Lesson to be learned; never trust a rat!
So what does the year of the pig mean to you? If you have been thinking about starting your own family – or if you are that pushy relative who always asks the newlyweds in the family when they plan on enlarging the family tree – this year is for you! The year of the pig is a great year to have babies as the pig symbolizes birth in Chinese tradition. Uh, what exactly are they trying to say with that? I know babies aren’t so cute when they are born, but I wouldn’t go that far.
While the year of the pig traditionally is great for babies, you might want to reconsider the idea. The predictions for this year by Chinese soothsayers aren’t the best. Violence, plagues and natural disasters are expected this year. So more of the same, basically.
As I searched the internet for information about Chinese New Year, I wasn’t too happy to discover my own animal sign. Of course, everyone wants to be the dragon. But I wasn’t expecting that kind of prized position. It would be funny to tell people I was a monkey. I would be proud to announce that I was a tiger. My husband is lucky enough to be a rabbit. But me? I am a goat. Anyone who knows me knows that I have always had a troublesome relationship with goats. I have a picture of myself as a kid at a petting zoo being forced to caress the hoofed creature and the look on my face says it all – yuck. As an adult, my disgust with goats didn’t fade as my sadistic parents kept a small army of them in our barn. I wasn’t forced to feed them or play with them, but once a day they were allowed to roam freely around the yard. If I wanted to enjoy the sunshine or chat with my parents outside I had to barricade myself in an enclosed structure to keep from being harmed by those overly curious devils. Let’s just say it’s an understatement to say I have no love for goats. Talk about bad karma. Knowing my luck, when I return in my next life I will come back as a goat.