Author Topic: Lunar Calendar and the Year of the Rat  (Read 1065 times)

pioneer

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Lunar Calendar and the Year of the Rat
« on: February 09, 2008, 12:03:02 PM »
By Joe Espiritu
Columnist
Bohol Sunday Post

ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THIS WEEK WILL BE FIRST NEW MOON AFTER January.

This will be the start of the lunar calendar year, the New Year of the Chinese and all those who had been influenced by the Chinese culture. This year, the Chinese zodiac if one may call it that, will be the turn of the rat. Some prefer to call it the Year of the Mouse for the sake of delicacy. The mouse is that lovable, big eared rodent from which the cartoon character Mickey Mouse is derived. However, though cute and lovable, the mouse is too timid to suit the go-getters that most prefer the rat, the pointed snout and scaly tailed denizen of sewers, though disreputable, is a tough and tried survivor. So rat it is.

The primitives based their reckoning on events important or memorable to them. Once a native Mindanaoan was asked when her son was born. The answer was; when the big bakan tree, which has been standing for ages before, fell down.

They had no calendar of sorts. When man invented agriculture, he found out that even those in the tropics must be in tune with the seasons, to realize a good harvest. Anyone who plants at the wrong time may have his crops destroyed because seasonal storms had blown down the grains and trees before the crop could be harvested. Or it he will plant in some inopportune time, the seasonal drought set in before the crop could bear fruit.

In Egypt and Mesopotamia, priests, the star gazers or astronomers, who were the erudite men at that time noticed that the life giving waters of the Tigris-Euphrates or the Nile floods at the time of the year when the Sirius or Dog Star is high in the heavens. At that time, a specific number of days passed between the appearances of the Dog Star. And since the days are solar divisions, the solar calendar was adopted. The reckoning by solar calendar made its way to the Romans and later to the rest of the western world.

The Chinese and some Middle Eastern culture, adhere to the lunar calendar. It could be that their skies are not always clear that they have to reckon their time according to the phases of the moon, which presence could be detected even in most cloudy nights. Their month starts from the sight of the new moon until the next new moon is sighted. However, the intervals between the new moons are lesser by a day or two each month in the solar calendar. The western solar calendar does not coincide with the eastern lunar calendar. To keep in time with the seasons and with the solar year, an intercalary month is added to the lunar calendar. Thus, the lunar year ends and begins in February.

One particular event that is influenced by the solar and lunar year is Easter Sunday. Jesus, a Jew, was crucified after He celebrated the Feast of the Passover. On a Friday. According to Hebrew tradition the observance of the Passover is on the first full moon after the vernal or spring equinox, which is on March 21. That means must come first before the Passover, a full moon. However, the full moon may no come on a Friday so the Church devised a formula to set the date for the Holy Friday of each year.

Feng shui, a set of rituals practiced by the Chinese on their New Year could have had religious connotations. Athletic clubs perform lion and dragon dances. Some burn the last years' pictures of their household gods to be replaced by new ones.

Some give sticky rice cakes or tikoy as gifts. Some stock round shaped sweet tasting fruits on their altars for good luck. To scare away evil spirits and the bad luck they bring, firecrackers are exploded. The louder the blast the better.

The Chinese New Year is never complete without firecrackers. Despite the dangers of losing one fingers or any parts of the body, the practice must go on or else experience bad luck the whole year round. The tradition is so deeply rooted that it could not be altered or modified. Even if there might be a way to chase away evil spirits without losing life or limb it will be not as exiting a exploding a firecracker.

Whatever may come let us greet our Chinese with Kong Hey Fat Tsoy or Kong Xi Fa Choy or what ever sounds that way. - www.boholsundaypost.net

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jorgeanna

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Reply: Lunar Calendar and the Year of the Rat
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2008, 02:13:30 AM »
gong xi fa cai xian nian kwai le

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