Gung Hay Fat Choy

May you prosper! This is the Year of the Red Dog in the Chinese calendar. Chinese New Year begins at sunset following the first New Moon after the Sun leaves Capricorn and enters Aquarius. In the United States, the Chinese year 4704 begins on Sunday, January 29, 2006 at 6:15 a.m. PST.

Chinese months are reckoned by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. In China, people may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.

You are under the sign of the Dog if you were born in 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994. Those born after today in 2006 will be included, but those born in January before this date are still in the Year of the Rooster (2005). Those born under the sign of the Dog are faithful and friendly. They are principled, trustworthy and nonmaterialistic, with a strong sense of right and wrong. People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people’s confidence because they know how to keep secrets.

Here in Portland, many celebrations are planned at the beautiful Chinese Garden, including the Lion Dance. Not as spectacular as San Francisco, where the Chinese New Year’s Parade is quite an event. Nevertheless, here on the West Coast it is an important holiday. Gung Hay Fat Choy.