Today is the Chinese New Year, and this year it's the Year of the Rabbit. Woohoo!
Or if, like me, you grew up somewhere with a substantial Vietnamese population, you will know it as the Year of the Cat.
Here is a lovely painting of some cats on their way to a party.
This is from Look at Vietnam - click the link for more happy cat paintings.
A long time ago I was told (by a Vietnamese person, so it must be true) that being an agricultural nation, the Vietnamese don't like rabbits (they eat the crops) but they do like cats (the farmer's friend, they eat rats and mice) - hence Year of the Cat, not Rabbit.
Something like the Australians, who for similar reasons have an Easter Bilby instead of an Easter Bunny.
Don't know what a Bilby looks like? Here he is:
How cute is that?!
Cats, Rabbits, Bilbies. They're all good.
And on that mellow note, here's Al Stewart to sing you into the New Year.
Happy New Year everyone!
Hi Dishwasher Crab! Here's a Belated
ReplyDeleteGung Hay Fat Choy... I'm not quite familiar with the Vietnamese version of Happy New Year. Supposedly this is the only point of departure between the Vietnamese zodiac and the Chinese zodiac -- Rabbit for Chinese and Cat for Vietnamese...and then rest of the zodiac is identical... I wish I were a better cultural historian.
Mmmmm I love both Chinese and Vietnamese food... wish they served a bit of those in the pubs... actually some bars here do... as appetizers... mini spring rolls/egg rolls, a small dish of crispy noodles, before you bite into your hamburger and fries or that club sandwich...
cheers,
Snacky