Today is the start of the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese calendar. Except if you live in Vietnam, it's the Year of the Cat. But I'm going to talk about the Year of the Rabbit, since more people celebrate that.
People who are born in a Rabbit Year have a lot of nice things about them, such as being talented and kind and polite. They get along with other people and can be good at making deals in business or politics. But sometimes rabbit people are too cautious or really moody. They can be lucky in making money, so they would be good gamblers, but usually they don't like to take risks, so they don't gamble.
My brother Mel is a rabbit. Well, okay, he's a dog, but he was born in a Rabbit year. So I think this explains why he is very careful about not getting into fights with other dogs. And in fact, if he ever even thinks there is going to be a fight, he goes off and hides in a corner. It's a good thing that dogs don't have money because if Mel had money, he would just bury it someplace instead of investing it. Or if it was paper money, he would probably eat it, just to keep it safe.
So anyway, when it's a Rabbit Year, usually that means we will all have a nice, quiet year when we can get over all the fighting and stuff that happened during the Year of the Tiger. And everyone will play nicely together, and we'll all be happy, and it will be easy to make money.
But there are these fortuneteller people in Asia who are saying that this Year of the Rabbit won't be so nice. They say that we are in for a year of terrorists and natural disasters and stock markets that don't do very well. And besides that, the U.S. and China won't get along with each other.
Tsai Shang-chi, a man in Taipei who knows about these things, says "This year the West will suffer from a vicious energy and will be prone to more terrorist attacks." He also says there will be a bunch of trouble between North and South Korea. Meanwhile, a man named Rev Yong, who lives in Malaysia, says that there will be lots of floods, an earthquake in Japan, and a bunch of yucky new diseases.
But if a lot of bad things start happening to you, Mr. Tsai says that one thing you can do is to wear yellow and white. Also you can eat food that is yellow or white, such as pumpkins, oranges, white radishes, and apples. Or you can carry a dog pendant because the Dog and the Rabbit are zodiac signs that get along well with each other.
Anyway, even though the Year of the Rabbit might not be as cute and cuddly as you were expecting it to be, the Chinese New Year is still a good excuse for a big celebration. There are lots of different ways to celebrate, and one way is to clean your house and sweep out any bad luck that is in it. Then you can decorate your windows and doors with red paper cutouts and verses that talk about happiness, wealth, and long life.
On New Year's Eve, families have big, yummy suppers of pigs, ducks, chickens, and sweets. In the north part of China, they eat dumplings and fish. Then after that, everybody shoots off firecrackers. And in the morning, the children get red envelopes that have money in them. Also there might be parades and festivals and all kinds of fun stuff.
Personally, I think I would most like the part about eating the pigs and ducks and chickens. Although I like fish, too. But I could just skip the fireworks part, even though I am not as scared of fireworks as Mel and Barry are. We don't know yet if Nicky is afraid of them, but I guess we'll find out in July.
Okay, well, I now all that's left is for me to wish you a Happy Year of the Rabbit. I hope it will be a happy, fuzzy year for you, but if not, start wearing yellow and white and eating lots of oranges!
