monkeying around

in 10 days time, the monkey will jump to greet us when the chinese new year (CNY)approach.

that’s right, january 22, 2004 ushers in the year of the wood/green Monkey “jia shen”. it is said that this coming year of the monkey will be “a year of movement, discussion and the exchange of ideas. a year highlighting: politicians, diplomats, ambassadors, writers, spokesmen, storytellers, orators, salesmen, and confidence games.”

well, that’s the prediction for the year of the monkey in general. and if you want to know what’s the predictions for your animal sign, go that same url. anyone born in the year of the monkey? if not, what animal are you?
(somebody correct my english… should it be ‘which animal are you?_

i notice that many bloggers had already started blogging on the chinese new year, like my dear friend wena. wah… very early, already have the CNY mood? me, no CNY mood yet but since i’m out of idea what to blog today, thought might as well jump in the bandwagon, to start blogging on CNY!

talking about wena, it seems her friend, renee, had a good write-up on CNY tradition. at the search website about.com, over here, you can also find lots of information on chinese cultures and tradition.

i find it strange that many people thought that i, as a catholic, do not celebrate chinese new year. no, not strange but rather they are ignorant that chinese new year is not a religious celebration. chinese new year, as the name suggest, is a new year for the chinese, and i am a chinese, right, therefore of course i celebrate chinese new year. and we do follow the chinese cultures and traditions… though i have to say i find some traditions kind of silly and outdated. and many to me are superstitions which i don’t believe in at all, e.g. not to sweep the floor on 1st day of CNY in case you sweep away the luck.

btw, have you notice, at christmas, the greeting will go ‘merry christmas’ or ‘happy christmas’ or even ‘a blessed and holy christmas’. then at hari raya, it’ll be ‘selamat hari raya. maaf zahir batin’. christmas talk about it being holy and blessed, hari raya talk on forgiviness, but do you know for the CNY, what they like to talk on? prosperity!! just look at every CNY card at the shop, it will sure have ‘wishing you a happy and prosperous new year’. trust the chinese to think about prosperity! well i had better wish you all a prosperous monkey year too!