Chinese New Year – or Spring Festival as it’s also known – begins on the new moon that appears between January 21 and February 20. This year this was Saturday, January 25.
Chinese New Year is a major holiday across East Asia and is celebrated in South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Malaysia as well as Greater China. Regions and countries with major Chinese populations such as Singapore and Myanmar also celebrate.
Each year in the Chinese calendar is represented by an animal and 2020 is the year of the rat.
The animal at the head of a year can have a profound personal impact according to legend, as people have an assigned zodiac depending on the year they were born.
The Rat is the first of all zodiac animals according to one myth.
Read More: Chinese New Year 2020: What will the Year of the Rat mean for you?
READ MORE
-
Chinese New Year greetings: How to celebrate New Year
This states the famous Jade Emperor said the order of the animals in the Chinese zodiac would be decided by the position in which they arrived at his party.
The rat tricked the ox into giving him a ride and then, just as they arrived at the finish line, the rat jumped down and landed ahead of the ox, coming first.
The rat is also associated with the Earthly Branch and the midnight hours.
In terms of yin and yang the rat is yang and signifies the start of a new day.
In Chinese culture, rats are seen as a sign of wealth and excess and due to their rate of reproduction, married couples often prayed to them for children.
What does the Year of the Rat mean for you and your horoscope?
Astrology-wise the new moon is in Aquarius, which has some autonomous rebellious energy which the Rat will bring into our lives across the course of the next year.
The Rat is also associated with Yang energy, so while it’s flexible, it’s also determined.
One important thing is there is a great deal of grounding energy associated with 2020.
Besides seeing the most powerful stellium in Capricorn since the nineties, we’re also seeing that earth energy reflected in the Rat.
READ MORE
-
Beijing forced to cancel Chinese New Year celebrations
But because of the Yang energy, it has a similar feel to Capricorn of being steadfast and also determined.
According to horoscope site YourTango, rat years are those which are fruitful and can even bring greater financial abundance to our lives.
While Rats can often achieve whatever it is they wish to, they do prefer to live quiet, simple lives and can even enjoy solitude as well.
This means that while we may be feeling more confident and successful, we’re not going to be looking for anyone to fill a void because we will feel full all on our own.
The one thing we do have to be wary of in the year of the Rat is that our words may not reflect how we truly feel.
Because rats often race around, individuals born under this sign can often seem rude or inattentive around others.
This means we may all fall prey to this energy if we’re not being mindful of others.
Many adverse aspects of both the Chinese New Year and astrology can be defeated if we slow down a bit and remain in the moment.
This reduces the chance of us saying something we don’t mean or forgetting to speak the truth when we feel it.
Yourtango adds rats are skilled at operating in fine detail but can lack confidence within themselves, especially in group settings.
However, there is a reserved nature which often can make up for this.
With the Chinese New Year of The Rat, the new moon in Aquarius, and even the Mercury-Mars sextile are encouraging us to blaze that new path and to speak our truth — but only to those that need to know it.
Which Chinese Zodiac animal are you?
- Rat: 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020
- Ox: 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009
- Tiger: 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010
- Rabbit: 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011
- Dragon: 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012
- Snake: 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013
- Horse: 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014
- Sheep: 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015
- Monkey: 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016
- Rooster: 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017
- Dog: 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018
- Pig: 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019
Source: Read Full Article