Thursday, February 19

Happy ewe year!

Happy Chinese New Year!

This animal sign, which comes once every dozen years, can be said to have an identity crisis. Known variably as the Year of the Goat, Sheep or Ram, the sign's confusion stems from its Chinese character, "yang," which broadly describes any of the ruminating mammals, with or without horns.

Many Chinese prefer to translate it as the "Year of the Sheep" because sheep are more cute and cuddly. The goat, however, is more likely to be the original meaning because it was a popular farm animal among Han Chinese who started the zodiac tradition.

People born in the yang year traditionally are believed to be filial, kind-hearted and artistic, while also timid, obstinate and consummate worriers.

The Chinese character "yang" is present in other characters with positive meanings, such as "beautiful," ''auspicious" and "goodness."


2 comments:

  1. Oh, that title is baa-aaa-ad. ;-)
    But a cute pun. Thank you for the interesting information regarding this year of the sheep.

    ReplyDelete