Anna Lee Mraz Bartra. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is China's most important holiday. This year the celebration of Chinese New Year 2021 will be virtual. next February 20, 2021 at 5 PM for this halfwhere we will celebrate the arrival of the hardest worker of the zodiac, the Ox, what will he bring with him in 2021?
The Chinese calendar rotates in cycles of 60 years represented by an animal year and an element to choose between wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each year is characterized by a yin or yang force, the animal and the element that year.
There is a legend, in Chinese mythology, of a great race where the 12 animals that managed to win would be announced to the world. The competition decided which animals would enter the zodiac and in what order. The Rat was the first animal to arrive.
Legend has it that the Ox, naive and kind-hearted, agreed to carry Rat and Cat on his back to cross a river. Halfway across the river, Rat pushed Cat into the water, knocking him out of the race. Then, as Ox approached the other side of the river, Rat pulled ahead and reached the finish line first. Thus, he claimed first place in the competition and the zodiac.
Chinese astrologers warned that the year of the Rat, under the Flying Star 2 positioned in the south, would cause all kinds of economic and health problems.
Maybe the Rat is cheating, maybe it's just a bad reputation; but 2020, the year of the Rat, the world went through a clear epochal change, unfortunately not in the way it was intended. It will always be remembered as a year filled with political strife, social unrest, economic decline and a global pandemic that severely disrupted our lives.
What will this coming year bring? With a big, if still virtual, celebration - February 20 at 5 PM - we will leave that 2020 behind and whether we adapt, evolve or change, new things are coming.
According to the lunar calendar, on February 12, the celebrations for the new year will begin, the symbol of which will be the White Metal Ox.
The Ox, the second animal of the Chinese zodiac is a symbol of hard work, of positivity and honesty. The Ox never held a grudge against the Rat for his cheating and they remained friends; so some astrologers predict that he will continue some of the Rat's work.
Success will come to those who work hard.
Very hard.
Hard work, responsibility, discipline; the good attributes of the Ox are not only found in the Chinese zodiac. The animal has been depicted in East Asian religion, art, literature and popular culture for centuries. Because of the Ox's strength and power, it was used as a religious icon in many ancient civilizations.
And not only from China; the Egyptians were the first to worship the ox and the cow, and traces of this are still to be found today. This religious respect was later passed on to the Greeks, for much of their high regard is due to their importance in agriculture.
In agricultural societies, oxen are reliable and strong working animals. They are pack animals and responsible for the survival of mankind, so for this reason and for the affinity with nature, for the Romans the ox was sacred.
The difficulties sown with the year of the Rat will not disappear overnight. The recounting of the damages of the past year will not end with the turning of the page. The pandemic, the economic crisis and the political conflicts will continue in the year of the Ox to complete them and bring them to their resolution.
But don't be discouraged! Across hundreds of different cultures, the Ox always finds a way out of the most difficult problems. This is not only considered a literal statement, but a metaphorical one, as the Ox is thought to be able to find solutions to any kind of predicament.
After the year we have had, we have no choice but to take the Bull by the horns[1].
Based in Redwood City and, through Peninsula 360 Press, a multicultural team will be conducting a virtual party with dances, songs, paper activities and more surprises. next February 20th, 2021 at 5 PM on this platform and in social networks.
[1] This is an expression used in some parts of Latin America when there is a problem that is difficult to solve and a person tries to solve it immediately, decisively, without hesitation, with courage.
Very interesting information, it's my year and as you say, you have to take the bull by the horns.