The Year of the Golden Pig

Well, I finally figured out how to post a title onto my blogs. How exciting - it only took my six months. Oh well!

It's been a while since I last posted and so much has happened. In brief, I took emergency leave of absence from Thailand because my dad underwent open heart surgery after a mild heart attack. The procedure was successful and he is home from the hospital. I am also back in Thailand and ready to finish off my last month here before heading home for good. In other news, I learned that I have been accepted into graduate school, so I will begin a three-year program in nurse-midwifery in September. So, it's been an intense, busy couple of weeks with many blessings.

This week was Chinese New Years. Chinese New Year is based on a lunar calendar. New Year begins at the new moon - usually the second new moon after the winter solstice. The celebration lasts 14 days until the full moon. Thus this year's new year celebration began on February 18th and will end on March 4th.

Because there are so many Chinese-Thais and Chinese in Thailand, there are always celebrations around the country - and especially in the large Chinatown area of Bangkok. Yesterday, while attempting to get from the main bus station to the Peace Corps office, the city bus I was riding got stuck in traffic going through Chinatown. Luckily I was in no hurry, so I could sit back and enjoy taking in the street-side festivities. Here are a few pictures:

A crowd gathers at the Chinatown gate. Many rub the stone lion for good luck.

Vendors line the streets selling colorful paper dragons on sticks.

a close-up of one of the dragons

the streets are filled with banner, lanterns, dragons and, of course, many cars and people

A restaurant has it's lanterns up for the new year. Shark Finn soup, anyone?

This year is extra special. Chronologically it is the year of the pig. However, this year is extra special - it is the year of the GOLDEN PIG. In addition to the zodiac animals, Chinese use the five elements - water, wood, fire, earth and metal - in their horoscopes. I don't know much about this, but apparently every twelve years, the normal animal year is more auspicious because it is combined with one of the elements. The Golden pig year is the year of the "fire" pig. This golden year only comes about every 60 years. It is considered especially auspicious to have a baby or start a business in the year of the pig, especially the golden pig. Some people thing this may start a baby boom around mainland China. We'll see...

Happy New Year!