I'm currently at home (this post is as close to real-time as possible, since I'm publishing it within seconds of finishing hte final draft), as are Mom & Dad. AJ and the Pipsqueak are with some of our MIT friends at the Kennedy Center in downtown Washington, DC for some of the free Lunar New Year events being held there[1].
(A quick aside: Yes, there are some concerns about both influenza and the Novel Coronavirus, but at this point we all have our shots for the former and the area is still considered safe for the latter.) [2]
Anyway, a few of our MIT families had a sleepover for several of the kids last night at one family's home -- ironically the one that might be the farthest from DC! -- and AJ availed herself of the offer to hang around and also spent the night as a sort of micro-vacation. (Me? I took Mom & Dad shopping and then did some coursework in the evening. Wild & crazy, eh?) Miri had a rough week so a little fun time with some of her besties and a special event afterwards seemed to be A Good Idea. (It also helps make up for our missing the big FCC Chinese New Year celebration this year because her dance team has a competition the same weekend.)
In place of my usual subject matter, I'm going to talk about some of the details of the Lunar New Year -- it's actually a lot more complex than all those Chinese restaurant placemats would have you believe.[3] (If you're interested in digging more deeply into the Chinese zodiac & associated horoscopes or just learning more about this fascinating subject that's shared by various Asian cultures, I recommend The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes by Theodora & Laura Lau -- it's an easy read chock-full of information, including comparisions & links to corresponding Western information.)
[The book title above is an Amazon Affiliate link; clicking on it to buy the book will help me out a little financially. You will be billed ONLY if you choose to actually purchase the book on the Amazon product page.]
Because the Gregorian calendar is solar-based, it's not exactly in synch with the Lunisolar system that controls the classic Chinese calendar (or many other non-Western calendars, both geographic and religious) so there is not a perfect one-to-one correspondence between years. For example, I was born in 1959 so my Chinese Zodiac animal is the Pig -- but anyone born in that same year during the first seven days of January would've still been born in the Year of the Dog (and the coming Year of the Ox doesn't start until the 11th of February 2021). In addition, the Chinese Zodiac includes Yin/Yang associations, elemental associations (using the Eastern elements Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, and Wood), along with ten "Heavenly Stems" and twelve "Earthly Branches" that are too involved to delve into here. So if you really want to know what year this is, here you go:
- Lunar Year Animal: Rat
- Elemental Association: Yang Metal
- Heavenly Stem: 庚 (Geng)
- Earthly Branch: 子 (Zi)
- Gregorian Dates: 2020/01/25 - 2021/02/11
Are you a Rat? Here are some corresponding dates from the Gregorian calendar (note that the Elemental Association, Heavenly Stem, and Earthly Branch will be different for most of these):
- 1924_02_05 thru 1925_01_23
- 1936_01_24 thru 1937_02_10
- 1948_02_10 thru 1949_01_28
- 1960_01_28 thru 1961_02_14
- 1972_02_15 thru 1973_02_02
- 1984_02_02 thru 1985_02_19
- 1996_02_19 thru 1997_02_06
- 2008_02_07 thru 2009_01_25
- 2020_01_25 thru 2021_02_11
- 2032_02_11 thru 2033_01_30
People born in the Year of the Rat are thought to be industrious, diligent, thrify, and adaptable, with a positive outlook on life. They are intelligent, perhaps a tad suspicious of people they don't know, and they are survivors; they are most compatible with people born under the sign of Ox, Dragon, and Monkey. Rats make good leaders, but can also be somewhat unpredictable. In particular, men born under this sign can be creative when it comes to taking advantage of opportunity but may lack the courage to do so; women born under this sign often have a stronger sense of responsibility and an enhanced ability to create order out of chaos. Some old Chinese sayings referencing Rat traits are to call someone "shrewder than a rat" or "as changeable as a rat" -- both of which are meant as compliments.
For those born in the current year of the Metal Rat (or in the most recent previous such year, 1960_01_21 thru 1961_02_14), the outlook is one of both stable personality and stable life, along with an ability to "make lemonade" when life hands them lemons.
So there you have a (very short!) lesson in what the Year of the Rat means. I'll get back to the usual "wutz up wit da Pipsqueak" posts in a few days (plenty to write about, both positive and not), but in the meantime we all wish you and yours a happy, healthy, and prosperous Year of the Rat!
[1] The events are free, but just in case you're from out of the area and want to visit -- and the Kennedy Center IS worth visiting -- parking in the basement garage is first come, first served and costs $23 per vehicle (ouch!), and you pay at the entrance. They accept American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa as well as cash. Also, if you have a larger vehicle, the maximum clearance in the garage is just 7 feet so beware! If you are there just to purchase tickets (and/or spend at least $10 in the gift shop), you can have your parking ticket validated for up to 2 free hours of parking -- see the Kennedy Center website at www.kennedy-center.org for details.
[2] The Novel Coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan is downright scary, but here's something for y'all to ponder. About an hour before I started typing this post, I read a news story saying the PRC had just reported its 41st Novel Coronavirus death. In somewhat ironic contrast, I read a news story yesterday in which North Carolina reported its 41st flu death of the 2019-2020 flu season. I checked the CDC website and they are already reporting over 6,600 flu-related deaths and over 125,000 flu-related hospitalizations in the USA for the 2019-2020 flu season... and a "second wave" of flu is just beginning, with at least another 2-3 months before the season winds down. (This "2nd wave" is a different strain of flu virus from the 1st, happily one that the current flu vaccine is very good at knocking out.) So... yes, keep your eye on developments with the Novel Coronavirus... but GET YOUR FLU SHOT. Please.
[3] This is actually a very abbreviated description/discussion. I'm not touching upon discussion of the meaning of the Elemental Associations, and haven't even mentioned the hourly, daily, and seasonal associations -- or several other details.
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