Welcome to 4702, the Year of the Monkey

By Jesse Tarbert
Seattle Times staff reporter

	What do Elizabeth Taylor, Will Smith, Shigetoshi Hasegawa and Pope John Paul II have in common? They were all born in the Year of the Monkey.
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Today is Chinese New Year. Gung hay fat choy! (Chinese for "Wishing you a prosperous New Year!") Welcome to 4702, the Year of the Monkey.

The Monkey is clever, flexible, innovative, scheming, mischievous and vain — qualities that fortune-tellers and astrology experts predict will make for an eventful year.

"Politics, diplomacy, high finance and business will be engaged in one big poker game with everyone trying to out bluff each other," says Theodora Lau in "The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes," in its fourth edition since being published in 1979.

And, she adds, "If there is a recession, the Year of the Monkey will quickly put an end to it."

Some years, the clever Monkey has delivered prosperity; in others, chaos and commotion:

A celebration What: 2004 Lunar New Year Celebration — Year of the Monkey, presented by Bank of America. When: Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday Where: Union Station-Great Hall (401 S. Jackson St.). How much Admission is free For more information, call 206-382-1197, or visit www.internationaldistrict.org

• The last Monkey year, 1992, brought an end to a recession and a change in the presidency. (Bill Clinton is a dog; George Bush is a rat.)

• In 1968, the Year of the Monkey began with the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and continued with assassinations, riots, revolutions and political unrest around the world.

• In 1944, the Allies began to turn the tide in Europe in World War II, liberating France from the German occupation.

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president in Monkey year 1932.

• Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, and before that Year of the Monkey was over, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union.

• Gold was discovered in California in 1848.

• The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776.

Chinese New Year falls on the first new moon of the new year, which means the celebration is on a different day each year according to Western calendars. This year, New Year's Day is today; last year (the Year of the Goat or Sheep), it was Feb. 1; next year (the Year of the Rooster), Feb. 9.

Traditions abound

In China, to prepare for the new year, it is tradition for people to clean their homes, get haircuts, buy new clothes and pay debts.

What are you? Rat: 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996 Ox: 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997 Tiger: 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998 Rabbit: 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 Dragon: 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 Snake: 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001 Horse: 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002 Sheep: 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003 Monkey: 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004 Rooster: 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005 Dog: 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006 Boar: 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007 Note: Since New Year's Day falls on a different day each year according to the Western calendar, if you have a January or February birthday, before figuring out your sign, you may want to consult a Chinese astrology book, such as "The Handbook of Chinese Astrology" by Theodora Lau, to find the exact dates of the year in question. Online, visit www.chinavoc.com/zodiac/index.asp

Traditional foods are prepared, and hosts set out oranges and "candy trays," which are filled with various nuts, seeds and dried fruit each symbolic of some form of prosperity in the new year. Red envelopes filled with "lucky money" are given out. People wear red to bring good luck; traditional "lion dances" and firecrackers scare off bad luck.

Fortune-tellers and astrologers make predictions for the new year.

The traditional celebration of Chinese New Year begins with the new moon and lasts until the full moon — 15 days. Traditions differ slightly in north and south China, and in other Asian countries. The celebration has evolved in the United States as well.

Jeffrey Pang, a member of the Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce (www.chinesechamber.net), notes that Chinese New Year is not a public holiday here, and it's hard work preparing all the traditional foods and following the 15-day schedule when people can't get time off from work.

May Wan, another Chinese chamber member, says that celebrations in Seattle have become more pan-Asian than Chinese, especially compared with other cities with larger, more concentrated Chinese populations, such as San Francisco or New York.

Wan also says the celebrations in Seattle have been gaining visibility compared with 20 years ago. "It's becoming a big deal because we have a growing population," she says.

The Chinatown International District Business Improvement Area (CIDBIA) is organizing the "2004 Lunar New Year Celebration — Year of the Monkey" for Saturday. Tim Wang, marketing manager for CIDBIA, expects about 5,000 to attend the free event, which will feature a traditional lion and dragon dance, as well as music and dance from other Asian cultures.

Measured in moons

Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year" because the Chinese calendar is based on the lunar cycle (29-½ days) in contrast to the Western calendar, which is based on the solar cycle (365-¼ days). Most years in the Chinese system consist of 12 lunar cycles of 29 or 30 days. Every few years, an extra month is added to keep up with the solar cycle, much like the Western leap year.

Each lunar year is named for one of 12 animals: Rat (or Mouse), Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat (or Sheep), Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar (or Pig). According to legend, the years were named by Buddha.

According to Chinese astrology, the animal that rules the year exerts a strong influence on the events of that year. It also determines many of the personality traits of people born in that year.

Someone born in a Year of the Monkey is supposed to be clever, flexible, innovative, curious, quick-witted, scheming, superior, egotistic and vain. These traits can be tempered or amplified, however, by the person's dominant element (wood, fire, earth, metal or water), their birth hour and their birth month.

The 12 animals can be placed in a circular pattern. An equilateral triangle connects the three animals that have a special affinity (the Monkey, the Rat and Dragon are the most compatible). Animals directly opposite each other in the circle are considered incompatible. The Monkey's nemesis is the ambitious, temperamental Tiger.

Jesse Tarbert: 206-464-2540 or jtarbert@seattletimes.com. Times researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company