Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Year of the Fire-Dog
I found out by chance that Tibetans celebrate the start of a new year today: Losar. Always a cheerful thought – the idea of purging negativity and ceremonially marking a new start somehow never goes amiss, does it? So weighed down we feel, yet so endearingly ever-ready to cast it all off and begin again.
Today begins the Tibetan Year of the Fire-Dog. A quick web-search tells me that, like the Chinese year, each Tibetan year is identified by an animal: hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, ape, bird, dog, pig, mouse, bull, tiger. In addition, each year is identified by an element: fire, earth, iron, water, wood. Finally, the gender alternates every other year, in a sixty year cycle. This Fire-Dog Year is Male. Next comes the Female Earth-Pig Year - MUST remember to celebrate that! ¶ 2:06 pm
I found out by chance that Tibetans celebrate the start of a new year today: Losar. Always a cheerful thought – the idea of purging negativity and ceremonially marking a new start somehow never goes amiss, does it? So weighed down we feel, yet so endearingly ever-ready to cast it all off and begin again.
Today begins the Tibetan Year of the Fire-Dog. A quick web-search tells me that, like the Chinese year, each Tibetan year is identified by an animal: hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, ape, bird, dog, pig, mouse, bull, tiger. In addition, each year is identified by an element: fire, earth, iron, water, wood. Finally, the gender alternates every other year, in a sixty year cycle. This Fire-Dog Year is Male. Next comes the Female Earth-Pig Year - MUST remember to celebrate that! ¶ 2:06 pm
Comments:
<< Home
I'm a water dragon, but I don't know if I'm male or not. (I guess if I was born in an even-numbered year it's male?)
Just yesterday I was thinking, really it feels like the real New Year to me, this time of year, rather than all the other traditional celebrations (Calendar, Christian, Wiccan, whatever). And perhaps this is why... thanks! xo
So does that mean that next year will be a great year for me, since I was also born in an Earth-Pig year?? I'm wondering what the significances are under this system...
Strange, exotic, and most interesting! Were you able to determine what the Male-Fire-Dog year means to the Tibetans? What should we expect? Our New Year just leads to another year that looks and feels very much like all the others...
Post a Comment
# posted by 
: 2:36 pm
: 2:36 pm<< Home
