Cock-a-doodle-doo (or whatever it is Chinese rooster chickens say). Happy Chinese New Year!
Last week we were sitting at our dining table, not a stone’s throw from Yat Sen school, with one of our most frequent and favourite houseguests.
“What’s that racket,” she asked, while stuffing down a bowl of noodles.
We looked suitably horrified at this question from a young woman who is part Korean/born so close to Russia you can hardly tell the difference/Chinese (failed).
“Ever heard of Chinese New Year,” we said. “That anniversary your people celebrate every year around this time. That’s the sound of the Chinese Youth Society up at the school practising their drums for the dragon dance.”
She didn’t look a bit ashamed but said she remembered now that her husband, a Houlihan of Irish extraction, was planning to make the traditional dumplings for new year dinner.
We said that didn’t win her a red envelope, so she agreed to look up Chinese astrology on internet so we could all see what the year held in store.
It was quite off-putting for us Roosters. Apparently the year of your birth sign is the most unlucky in the 12-year astrological cycle.
Putting it bluntly “in the year of your sign, fortune in all aspects of your life will not be very good”.
Therefore Roosters should be more careful in 2017, it added. Too right.
Even less encouraging is that Roosters born in my particular birth year are said to be energetic (good), tender (probably also good), overconfident (less good) and unstable (definitely not good).
There are some other traits thrown in so people don’t go out and throw themselves into a duck pond, such as hardworking and resourceful.
Roosters are supposed to be active and popular among a crowd, being amusing, honest, talkative and outspoken (not always top of the gold star scale).
They like to be the centre of attention and enjoy the spotlight, in which they will exhibit their charm on any occasion. But it gets worse.
Roosters are said to expect others to listen to them when they speak and can become agitated if they don’t.
They can be vain and boastful, liking to brag about themselves and their accomplishments. Definitely not good.
Their behaviour of continually seeking the unwavering attention of others annoys people around them at times. (Why are we not surprised).
By now, Roosters were wishing they were Snakes or Oxen.
All I can say is that it is also no surprise to find out that newsreading, travel writing and journalism are Rooster careers.
To cheer myself up I decided to look up the sign of our four-year-old, Tufaan Taylor, the Hurricane of Flagstaff. I really shouldn’t have.
She turns out to be a Dragon, yet another unsurprise.
Dragons have an infamous reputation for being hotheads and in ancient times, people thought that dragons could control everything in the world with their dominance and ambition. So does Tufaan.
Dragons are enthusiastic and confident, but sometimes regarded as aggressive — and angry dragons are not open to criticism, nor do they consider themselves irritating and arrogant.
I fear that they too are suited for a career in journalism.
I was ready to be strangled with a noodle by this point in our research, until I turned up the astrological forecast for Tufaan’s infamous auntie, the Mausi we call Cuddles the Thug.
She turned out to be a Rabbit. Apparently for Chinese people, the Rabbit is a tame creature representing hope.
Rabbits reputedly tend to be gentle, quiet, elegant and alert; they are quick, skillful, kind, and patient; avoid argument and are particularly responsible.
After we stopped rolling about on the floor with mirth at the idea of Cuddles being quiet, patient and avoiding argument we decided that perhaps Chinese astrology is for Chinese people, not for us islanders and hybrids.
But then again, I found the Rooster trait of being outspoken not altogether a bad thing.
My cock-a-doodle-doo for the New Chinese Year is to urge the Roosters in positions of power to be honest and outspoken about such matters as dredging in Sigatoka; and as done in many other countries on significant anniversaries, to lift bans — in this case to allow Professor Brij and Dr Padma Lal to return to Fiji.
n The writer is a regular contributor to this newspaper. The views expressed are hers and not of this newspaper.
