Year Of The Rooster '05

Feb 19, 2005 - YEAR OF THE ROOSTER. CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE. This is Lunar Year 4703.
The Year of the Rooster signals happiness, color, and drama, but this has to be balanced with good old fashioned common sense. Conflicts may arise but will go away if we put ourselves in each other's shoes. Otherwise, the year could end up becoming a wild goose chase, which may not go over very well in the barnyard.

RED ENVELOPES
In many Asian cultures, red envelopes are packets containing money given as gifts during the Lunar New Year and other festive occasions. They are believed to bring good luck, health, and prosperity to those who give them and those who receive them. These images are scans of the originals we received at the parade.

MUSIC INSTRUMENT
There was a musical instrument an old Chinese man had in China Town that is called an Erhu. It is violin-like and makes beautiful music that you can sample here:

P.S. I have DVD's of the video footage I shot at the parade. Let me know if you want a copy.

FUN KIDS ACTIVITY LINK

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 fell on February 9th. 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 the Lord 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."

Rat 1924 1936 1948 1960 1972 1984 1996

Ox 1925 1937 1949 1961 1973 1985 1997

Tiger 1926 1938 1950 1962 1974 1986 1998

Rabbit 1927 1939 1951 1963 1975 1987 1999

Dragon 1928 1940 1952 1964 1976 1988 2000

Snake 1929 1941 1953 1965 1977 1989 2001

Horse 1930 1942 1954 1966 1978 1990 2002

Sheep 1931 1943 1955 1967 1979 1991 2003

Monkey 1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 2004

Rooster 1933 1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005

Dog 1934 1946 1958 1970 1982 1994 2006

Boar 1935 1947 1959 1971 1983 1995 2007

Video / audio instructions: There is a thin green progress bar on each of the media boxes above and to the left. Wait until the line reaches the right of the box (which means it is done downloading) and then press play to view or hear. If you see the word "Player" it means you need to update your free macromedia Flash player using the button to the right! Thanks - Andy.