Embrace creativity, innovation in Year of Wood Snake

The Lunar New Year, which starts tomorrow, is the biggest and most important festival of the year for millions upon millions of Chinese—as well as other Asians, like the Vietnamese, who celebrate Tet—all over the world.

- DOREEN YU

In China this is when the great migration takes place, as those who have gone off to the cities or other provinces for work or study or a new life make their way home, to gather around the family hearth—oui, oh, as my grandmother used to say—to celebrate this most auspicious occasion, also called the Spring Festival. Airports, train, bus and ferry stations are jampacked, and it is this great migration that is believed to have facilitated the spread of the coronavirus in 2019. That was the Year of the Pig, from Feb. 5, 2019 to Jan. 24, 2020.

We are entering the Year of the Wood Snake. There are 12 animals—Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig and as kids we learned to recite these in rapid succession in Hokkien – and five elements – Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Thus when you reach the age of 60, you would have completed a full cycle of the 12 animals and five elements, a significant milestone.

Because the Lunar New Year begins on different dates each year in the solar-based Gregorian or Western calendar, those born in late January to early February should check when the new year started in their birth year (you can Google this). For example, a baby born today is still a Dragon (a much desired sign), whereas one born after midnight would be a Snake.

The lunar year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, and every so often a leap month or double month is added to even things out. This year there is a second sixth month, from July 25 to Aug. 22, so the dreaded seventh or Ghost Month runs from Aug. 23 to Sept. 21.