The Chinese New Year is an old and revered custom based on ancient Chinese lunisolar calendars. There is reference to primitive calendars dating from the Zhou dynasty and Huangdi’s calendars (2698 to 2598 BC). Today, the Chinese new Year is also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year. Regardless of what it is called, Chinese New Year is a major festival in China and with Chinese people around the word.
This year is the Year of the Goat. (It is sometimes called year of the ram or sheep). The goat is one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac and like other astrological systems in place over the millennia, great importance is placed on astrological events, for example, the changing seasons, the rising of the full moon, as well as other terrestrial and celestial happenings. Some zodiac signs are considered lucky, and some, not so lucky.
For those born in the Year of the Goat, it is thought they will not become leaders in politics or commerce, and because sheep are thought to be calm and gentle creatures, people born under this sign are considered to be meek, and followers rather than leaders. There is a popular piece of folklore in China that goes “Only one out of ten people born in a year of the Goat finds happiness.”
To many Chinese, this means that people born under the sign of the goat will run a greater risk of failing at marriage, have unhappy families and encounter more than their share of bad luck. While people today agree this is just superstition, most agree it’s wise to not tempt fate. For this reason, many young married couples in China try very hard to not have a child born in the year of the Goat.
Back in May, 2014, the Washington Post reported that health officials in China said many couples were trying to conceive, racing against time to have their babies born in the Year of the Horse, a much more auspicious year. It was reported that fertility consultations had spiked in China during the first half of 2014, raising fears that a corresponding spike in abortions could be expected as couples realized they had missed the cut-off date.
Dr. Li Jianjun, an obstetrician at Beijing’s United Family Hospital said many couples have been inquiring about having delivery by Caesarean section to ensure their child was born in the Year of the Horse. Even so, Professor David Goodman, who lives in Nanjing and is the author of “Class in Contemporary China,” says he doesn’t believe the Year of the Sheep will have any impact on the birth rate.
Goodman says he thinks most Chinese people are realistic, and despite superstitions, “they also know that if you can afford to send your kid to a good school and live in a good neighborhood then all the superstition in the world won’t matter too much.”
Duan Chengrong is a professor of demography at Renmin University. After analysing population data from 1954 to 2002, he has concluded that the avoidance of childbirth in the Year of the Goat is a myth. He refers to it as a “social phenomenon,” saying it is much more common in Northern China than any place else.
But the perception of bad luck associated with the zodiac sign is so embedded in the population that even the state media has taken to running reports downplaying the superstition, saying, “Look who was born in the Year of the Goat.” One report listed famous people born in the Year of the Goat, like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Twain, Jay Chou and Zhang Ziyi.
Actually, this year’s Year of the Goat may be more auspicious than people realize. This year, 2015, is also the Year of the Wood Goat. A Wood Goat year occurs once in every 60 years, according to the Chinese Five Element (Earthly Branch) Theory. But just to be sure the fates are not tempted, try wearing red underwear, and don’t clean your house of wash your hair the first three days of the festival.
