Fireworks and red underwear: Chinese saddle up for the Year of the Horse
罢辞诲补测鈥檚 Google doodle , which kicks off tonight and ushers in two weeks of festivities across Asia.听
Friday, Jan. 31 is the first day of the year of the horse according to the lunar calendar, marking the end of the year of the snake. It's a day when families reunite to feast, houses get cleaned, new clothes are worn, and children receive red envelopes with 鈥渓ucky money鈥� in them (a custom in China and some other countries).
The holiday travel period is the on the planet, with 3.65 billion trips over a 40-day period. (Check out an interactive visualization of in China from Baidu, China鈥檚 leading search engine.)
The Chinese zodiac is based on a cycle of 12 years, each celebrating a different animal. The year of the horse is shared by anyone born in 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002 鈥� and, naturally, 2014.
But if it鈥檚 your year, keep the champagne on ice. Chinese philosophy cautions that people born under the same zodiac sign as the calendar鈥檚 designated animal should brace themselves for a particularly difficult year. Put another way, people born under the sign will this year sit 鈥渙n the ruling god's head鈥� on the zodiac chart, Chinese zodiac specialist聽Lin Abbott .
Ms. Abbott is an adviser to the City of Sydney, Australia. Her advice for the horse-born is to 鈥渢o lie low and let it peacefully go past鈥� so as to avoid 鈥渃lashing with the gods.鈥� To fend off bad luck, you can also try taking a long overseas trip or throwing a big party, she advises.
Another traditional method to ward off bad luck is to wear red 鈥� from outwear to underwear 鈥� which may account for in the regional sales of red lingerie, Reuters reported yesterday from Singapore.听
Lunar New Year Festivities often continue through the springtime Lantern Festival, the day when thousands of people parade giant paper dragons through the streets.
