“A horse is a horse, of course, of course…” and today is the final day of “The Year of the Horse” on the Chinese calendar. (If you’re not suddenly singing the “Mr. Ed” talking horse theme song, you’re not nearly as old as I am.)
Tomorrow begins year 4713 in China, but there are different opinions on the animal symbol that represents it. Depending on the Internet site you choose to believe, it could be the year of the Sheep, the Goat, the Ram, or the Wood Sheep or Wood Ram, whatever those might be!
Some sites have resorted to calling it “The Year of the Horned Animal,” but that sounds to me like a real chicken poop cop-out.
Regardless, the attributes of the representative animal, and those born in this 12 year cycle are consistent. If you were born in 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, or 1991, you belong in this group, and here’s a link just for you: http://www.famousbirthdays.com/zodiac/sheep.html
All the rest of us need to know about the Chinese New Year is that if we’ve blown any of our own New Year’s Resolutions, we have a perfectly reasonable excuse to start again tomorrow. It’s yet another fresh start, and a time to gather ourselves and our determination and begin anew.
And that’s not a baaaaa-d thing, is it?