Holiday For 2012 Chinese New Year

It's official, January 23, 2012 is declared  a special nonworking holiday under the Malacañang Palace proclamation 295.  A good entry for the year of the Black Water Dragon.  Honestly, I haven't known it since yesterday when an office mate told me that our meeting was moved to Tuesday.  Maybe I was not just expecting it since it wasn't a holiday in the past years.  Now, we will be celebrating another new year for 2012, this time based on the calendar used by our Filipino Chinese brethren.  More, it falls on a Monday giving us a longer weekend... Yes!!!

Water Dragon by Conejo Blanco

Just a short information why it is called a Black Water Dragon year.  In a Chinese five element astrology calendar (fire, earth, metal, water and wood),  2012 is the year of the water dragon.  And for them, water is related to the color black.  And just for the trivia, the other elements corresponding colors are the following: fire-red, earth/soil-brown, metal-white/golden, and wood-green.

The Chinese astronomers believed that this year will have a lot of  unexpected things happening as that of the characteristics of a dragon to be unpredictable and untouchable.  So, they say that you might be lucky or you may not depending on the type of element you belonged to and what your lucky element is from the astrology birth chart for this year.  There's nothing wrong in believing to things that could serve as guide to your life, but we must not fully rely on these since  no one really sees what the future holds for us.  We make our own destiny and everything that happens to our life is due to the decisions we choose. The future is in the hands of our Heavenly Father. It is a part of His great plan for each of us even before we were born.  We must have faith in Him that in everything that happens in our lives , there is a reason behind and He does not abandon us even for a second. 

To our Chinese brothers and sisters, we celebrate with you in this special occasion, Kiong Hee Huat Tsai!!! Yahweh bless.

Happy New Year and "Kiong Hee Huat Tsai"

Advance Happy New Year to our Filipino-Chinese brothers… and to all Chinese in the world.  “Kung Hei Fat Choi!!!”… For all these years I thought I was greeting someone a “Happy New Year” in Chinese.  But if you greet them that don’t worry, it’s not wrong.  We just often mistaken it as “Happy New Year”, but “Kung Hei Fat Choi!” is Cantonese for greeting, “Congratulations and be prosperous! Or Congratulations and wishing you prosperity”.  However, considering that majority of the Chinese Filipinos speaks Hokkien, I suggest that we say the greeting in Hokkien, which is "Kiong Hee Huat Tsai" which means just the same.  Why??? Kasi daw para kang nagbibisaya sa Tagalog.  Just for information, in Mandarin it is “Gong Xi Fa Cai”.

Here are additional trivia about the Chinese New Year. Enjoy and God bless:

Ø  The Chinese New Year 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit,
which is also known by its formal name of Xin Mao.

Ø  It will be held this coming February 03, 2011.  It is the first day of the Chinese New Year.

Ø  And it is Year 4708 in the Chinese calendar.

The Chinese calendar has been in continuous use for centuries. It predates the International Calendar (based on the Gregorian Calendar) in use at the present, which goes back only some 430 years. Basically, a calendar is a system we use to measures the passage of time, from short durations of minutes and hours, to intervals of time measured in days, months, years and centuries. These are fundamentally based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars.  Days are measured by the duration of time of one self rotation of the earth. Months are measured by the duration of time of rotation of the moon around the earth. Years are measured by the duration of time it takes for the earth to rotate around the Sun.

Ø  Chinese New Year Celebration Day:

2007 Feb 18
2008 Feb 7
2009 Jan 26
2010 Feb 14
2011 Feb 3
2012 Jan 23

Ø  There are three ways to name a Chinese year:

1. By the zodiac animal

2008 is known as the Year of the Rat.
2009 is the Year of the Ox.
2010 is the Year of the Tiger

There are 12 animal names; so by this system, year names are repeated every 12 years.

THE CHINESE ZODIAC CHART (Simplified)

Rat 子- Zodiac Animal

Senju Kannon – Buddhist Patron

N – Compass Direction

1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 – Year of Birth

Ox 丑

Kokūzō Bosatsu

NE

1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009

Tiger 寅

Kokūzō Bosatsu

NE

1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010

Hare or Rabbit 卯

Monju Bosatsu

E

1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011

Dragon 辰

Fugen Bosatsu

SE

1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012

Snake 巳

Fugen Bosatsu

SE

1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013

Horse 午

Seishi Bosatsu

S

1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014

Sheep 未

Dainichi Nyorai

SW

1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015

Monkey 申

Dainichi Nyorai

SW

1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016

Rooster 酉

Fudō Myō-ō

W

1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017

Dog 戌

Amida Nyorai

NW

1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018

Boar or Pig 亥

Amida Nyorai

NW

1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019

2. By the Stem-Branch Formal Name

2011 is the year of XinMao .
2010 is the year of Geng Yin .
2009 is the Year of Ji Chou.

In the 'Stem-Branch' system, the Name of the Year is repeated every 60 years.
2011 is the 12th year in the current 60-year Cycle.
2010 is the 11th year in the current 60-year Cycle.
2009 is the 10th year in the current 60-year Cycle. 

3. By its Year Number

          2012 is Year 4709 by Chinese Calendar.
          2011 is Year 4708 by Chinese Calendar.
          2010 is Year 4707 by Chinese Calendar.
          2009 is Year 4706 by Chinese Calendar

Ø  HOW TO PREPARE FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR:

• Decorate house doors with red scrolls on which Chinese characters are written and hang up red paper lanterns.

• Make sure there are healthy, preferably blooming, plants around the house. They symbolize life and  renewal.
• Settle all debts. You must not owe anyone money.
• Thoroughly clean the house before the first day of the year.
• Get a haircut and wear new clothes.