Friday 31 January 2014

Happy Year of the Horse!


Gung hey fat choy, everyone! Happy Chinese Lunar New Year and welcome to the Year of the Horse! Isn't this a great photo of a young woman and her horse enjoying a good laugh together? I found it on teh interwebs.

What can we expect in a Horse Year? According to Susan Levitt and Jean Tang in Taoist Astrology:

The year of the Horse is a time of victory, adventure, exciting activities, and surprising romances. Decisive action, not procrastination, brings success. Energy is high and production is rewarded. . . . On a global scale, expect world economies to become stronger and industrial manufacturing to rise -- or expect economic chaos and collapse . . . . Under strong Horse's influence, there is no middle ground.

Well, given all that, you'd better ensure good luck and prosperity for the upcoming year by exchanging a small coin with a friend today! Click here for details of this fun little ritual.

36 comments:

Sunnybrook Farm said...

I will tell Dusty that it is the year of the horse, maybe he will be amused and make a face for me.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

happy year of the horse! i'm sending you a mental penny!

Snap said...

Happy New Year and a big YEEHAW!

LL Cool Joe said...

Well so far this year has totally sucked, and seems to be getting worse each week. So I have the horse to blame then?

mxtodis123 said...

My neighborhood should really be 'swinging' today. I live one block from what is called little Chinatown.
Mary

Pickleope said...

Awwww the year of the horse? Horses scare me. A horse killed Superman (Christopher Reeves). I was hoping for a monkey.

turquoisemoon said...

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year! It began last night at Midnight. The year of the Green, Yang, Wood Horse. Should have started (last night)by lighting a red candle. Today wear your new red clothes, best jewels, no cleaning or use of sharp objects, put out a bowl of oranges for everyone and enjoy the wonderfully determined, free energy of the Horse!!!
NO CLEANING TODAY- I CAN DO THIS!!!

jadedj said...

Optimism = out with the neigh-sayers?

DEZMOND said...

I am actually a horse in the Chinese horoscope so I hope this year will be a good one for me especially since recent few years were a hell for me

Silke Powers said...

Happy Year of the Horse! I'm ready!! I was born in the year of the horse so I hope it's going to be a good year... Here's a virtual penny for you! :) xo Silke

Adam said...

I was born in the year of the dragon

Jeanne said...

Happy New Year to you! And here is a 'pence' for you. :0)

The Happy Whisk said...

Such a fun picture.

MrsDuncanMahogany said...

I like those predictions! May you have a happy year of the Horse! Sending you a virtual coin!

Anonymous said...

Neeeeeeiiiiggggghhhhhhhh!

:)

Fundy Blue said...

Love, love, love that first photos ~ It will have me smiling all day! Have a happy weekend, Debra!

Plowing Through Life (Martha) said...

Hahaha...what a perfectly fitting photo! Sounds like a good year. And who doesn't love horses?

Leanna said...

Gong Xi Fa Chai, pronounced Gong Hay Fat Choy, which means "congratulations and make a fortune."

Turquisemoon is right. The year of the Green Wood Horse did start last night ending the Year of the Snake.

Red is the lucky color of the horse so I'm wearing red.
No cleaning and no taking out the trash just for today. It is forbidden. If you do these things you sweep out the good luck in your house. It is a day to give red envelopes of money to children and greeting friends and neighbors. There are 15 days of festival celebrations starting today and ending on Februray 14th with the Lantern Festival.

For Wood Horse people like me, it is a bad time. Horse people usually don't prosper during their lunar year. Caos reigns. So we tread lightly through our year. That means no traveling if I can help it, and caution is the word for me.

Anne Johnson said...

Well, I have a Chinese student living with me. She had to go to school today. Her faraway mom is so depressed! So I got a red bag from the store, decorated it with stickers, and put candy coins in it. I think I'd better add a real coin to keep the luck on track. As for not taking out the trash, this is news to me, but wowsa. What a great holiday!

CraveCute said...

Keeping my fingers crossed for world economies to become stronger and industrial manufacturing to rise.

The Dancing Crone said...

Sounds like an exciting year - although some excitement I could do without - like economic collapse, haha. Happy year of the Horse, Debra!

Dawna said...

Love Horses, and I'm loving the Year of the Horse already!:))

Ol'Buzzard said...

this is no BS: My wife and I went to a Chinese restaurant called The Great Wall - at the end of the meal we were given fortune cookies: mine said 'You have no fortune.' It was a good laugh - I wish I had saved it.

Anonymous said...

Yay! I love the whole not procrastination part. Maybe I'll finish my book this year =)

yellowdoggranny said...

when I saw that it was Chinese New Year it just made me sad..knowing that if WRH had still been here I could be doing our Chinese New Year party.sigh*

Professor Chaos said...

Fun fact: a Chinese woman once told me that "Gung hey fat choy" actually does not mean "happy new year." She said it's better translated as "may you make a lot of money in the new year." I don't know if that's true, but she seemed honest.

Riot Kitty said...

So all or nothing then?

Vanessa Morgan said...

Victory, decisive action and success all sound like a good deal to me :)

This N That said...

What a great picture !!

Linda said...

I heard that the Chinese consume more red wine than any other culture...interesting,eh?

Cheers!
Linda :o)

Kay G. said...

I've seen this photo on other blogs and I love it!
Just wondering, when you have a horse next to you at a traffic light (in a horse trailer, of course) do you roll down your window and say, "Hello WILBUR".
I am afraid that I do! HA!
You gotta love Mr. ED!!

Magic Love Crow said...

Happy New Year ;o) Bring on the horse ;o)

klahanie said...

Not one to nag and no horsing around from me.

Let's having a good time in the Year of the Horse.

Gary :)

Magaly Guerrero said...

You had me at "not procrastination." WoooHooo!

The Silver Bunny said...

Shite, I didn't. Exchange a coin, I mean. Oh well, it will be economic chaos for me then....very much my usual !

Guillaume said...

I actually knew how to say happy new year in Chinese, but never knew how to write it.