新年快乐! (Happy New Year!)
February 12, 2021 was celebrated as the start of the New Year in the Chinese lunar calendar, which will last until January 31, 2022.
This is the Year of the Metal Ox. So what does that mean?
- The Ox is the second animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac.
- People born year of the Ox are the present of gold wrapped in brown paper; they are the pillars of society — intelligent, solid and stable, honest, loyal, hardworking, outlasting everyone to get the job done. However, the Ox can be overly cautious, stubborn, and unyielding.
In the Chinese calendar there are 5 phases named after natural phenomena: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. These phases are used to categorize everything, not just years. It adds another layer of complexity to the traits of the different animals in the zodiac. This year is the Metal Ox. The Metal traits include being independent, authoritative, uncompromising possibly to the point of being stubborn, rigidity, and focused drive to achieve goals.
OK, I can hear the question, But wasn’t last year a Metal year? And we all know how 2020 turned out! Well a lot of Feng Shui specialists seem to agree that this Metal year will be tempered by the Earthly Ox and that is is a Yin Metal year — among the heavenly stems and earthly branches, the Ox is considered Yin Earth (Yi Chou 乙 丑’; the Rat is Yang Water, Jia Zi 甲 子). The characteristics associated with the Earth phase are nurturing, tolerance, cooperation, organization, and to a degree, passivity.
Famous Oxen — A lot of great actors, artists, musicians, athletes, writers, and innovators were born in an Ox year:
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- Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, George Clooney, Robert Redford, Angela Lansbury, Marlene Dietrich, George Takei, Peter Cushing, Jessica Lange.
- Musicians & singers: B.B. King, Enya, Bruno Mars, Hank Williams Jr, Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis Jr.
- Athletes: Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Mark Spitz,
- Artists & authors: Vincent vanGogh, Annie Liebovitz, Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, Albert Camus.
- Innovators & scholars: aviator Charles Lindbergh, Walt Disney, paleo-anthropologist Mary Leakey, chemist and two-time Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling
- Famous political figures and activists include Barack Obama, Princess Diana, Margaret Thatcher, Malala Yousafzai, Malcolm X, Robert F Kennedy, Colin Powell, Benjamin Netanyahu
