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The Year of the Rabbit |
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Since Feb 3 the traditional calendar has turned into a new year for the Chinese - the Year of the Rabbit. Rabbit occupies the fourth position in the Chinese zodiac, i.e. Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Ancient Chinese believed there was a rabbit living on the moon, named the Jade Rabbit or the Moon Rabbit, who kept grinding herb with a mortar and pestle for Chang’er, a beautiful goddess who never grew old. Because of this legend, rabbit was closely linked to the moon and endowed with longevity, happiness and good fortune.
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As the old Year of the Tiger comes to say goodbye, rabbits now are ubiquitous as millions of Chinese mark the Lunar New Year, hoping for a more tranquil time ahead. The 1.3 billion inhabitants greatly celebrate this hugely important family event that marked by feasts and a blaze of fireworks. On New Year's Eve, people wish their loved ones success and happiness, for this time though, the spicy ones will further lift their two thumbs up to imitate rabbit ears – to act a "geili" position - a new expression which literally translates as "to give power" and more generally means “fashion” and "cool".
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| Ways of Celebrating Chinese New Year |
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House Clean & Decorate - Chinese consider it very important to give the house a thorough cleaning before the New Year - sweeping away all the bad luck accumulated over the last year. In addition, people like to hang paper cuts on doors and windows, these red patterns are considered to bring good luck home as well as to drive the evil away.
Kitchen God Sacrifice – In most rural areas, or even in some urban families, people stick a poster of the Kitchen God in their kitchen. The custom is to offer a ceremonial sacrifice to the Kitchen God so that a good report on the family's behavior will be sent by him to heaven.
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Serve Festive Dinner - On New Year's Eve there is an important tradition for families - to gather together and spend the evening preparing Chinese dumplings (Jiaozi). Sticky Cake (Nian Gao) is also very popular. Actually throughout the New Years season, sumptuous meals are served as the symbolization of good harvest in the last year and an affluent life in the next.
Give Yasui Money - New Year is the happiest festival for children; on the day they receive Yasui Money - red packets decorated with gold symbols and filled with "lucky money". "Yasui" means to suppress the devil "sui", thus to bring children health and luck. In Cantonese, Yasui Money is also called leisee.
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| How did the Zodiac Rabbit come |
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Speaking of how rabbit become a zodiac part, there is an interesting legend about "rabbit and ox race".
It is said that rabbit and ox are neighbors. They got along so well that they call each other brother. The ox lived on hard work, while the rabbit lived on petty trick. Days were travelling peacefully until one day, the rabbit showed off his long-distance running in front of his friend ox: "I’m the running champion in the animal world, nobody beats me!" The ox humbly asked for advice, yet the rabbit shook his head and said proudly: "The skill relies not on learning but innate quality. Moreover, it requires light body, a man as heavy as you will never run faster. "
The ox’s heart suffered a lot, but he is not convinced. Since then, the ox started practicing long-distance running. With indomitable great strength he finally got a pair of "iron foot", which made it possible to run a few days and nights without fatigue.
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It went to the day when the Jade Emperor selected 12 Zodiacs. In accordance with the rules, whoever came to the heaven earlier was ranked higher. The rabbit and the ox set out together. After a while the ox was lagged behind, the rabbit kept running for another moment until all the animals were far behind. He felt a little tired, and though that since the first name was assured it would be okay to have a nap. Thus, he lied down on the grass to sleep.
Although the ox is slow, with his trained endurance and tenacity of the iron feet, he reached the heaven temple when the rabbit was still sleeping.
A hasty step over the rabbit woke up the rabbit, who then found that the tiger has just passed through as a gust of wind. He did his best to catch up, but unfortunately fell behind the tiger. As the mouse hid between the two horns of the ox and leaped ahead when the latter arrived, the rabbit was only ranked the fourth, the top three are the rat, ox, and tiger.
Because the rabbit lost to the ox with whom he’d ever had fun, when he came back, he moved the family to the soil hole, and now the rabbits are still living in the soil hole. However, the rabbit seemed to have never learned the lesson. Believe it or not, you can arrange a "cow vs. rabbit" or "tortoise vs. rabbit" race today, but the winner certainly was not the rabbit.
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According to Beijing folklore, the rabbit came down to earth as a girl, riding on a horse, a tiger or a lion, traveled in the city, and saved many from a serious epidemic, thus Beijingers make statuettes of a rabbit wearing armor and riding a tiger in tribute.
Rabbits, especially ones with white hair, are also a symbol of longevity in traditional Chinese culture. The ancient Chinese believed it was the incarnation of Alioth, the brightest star of the Triones. Little bunny toys, wears and decorations are widely seen in the market, representing goodness and best wishes.
Even the mainland's postal system has jumped on the rabbit bandwagon, releasing a series of special stamps in early January that were sold out on the spot in just a few hours. Stamps with rabbit illustrations released in 1987 and 1999, the last two years of the rabbit, go for up to 125 times more than their original value. |
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| Short Message to Send Well Wish |
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During the traditional Chinese festival, People usually wish this Year of the Rabbit brings success, happiness, peace and prosperity and good health to everyone. Except for saying propitious words to the family members gathered together, an all-pervading method in recent years is to send short message to other relatives, friends or colleges via mobile phones. It’s said the three telecommunication operators profited 2 billion Yuan merely through short message during the 7 days’ new year vacation, despite that each message costs only 0.1 Yuan.
Here is an example of the short message that imbued endless happiness of a rabbit:
一只快乐兔，来到快乐山，喝了快乐泉，又到快乐殿，吃了快乐莲，遇到快乐仙，听了快乐言：快乐很简单，快乐在身边，快乐无极限，快乐在兔年！
(A happy rabbit, comes to the happy mount, drinks from the happy spring, turns to the happy tent, eats the happy seed, meets the happy god, hears the happy word: happiness is simple, happiness is around, happiness is unlimited, happiness lies in Rabbit.) |
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