Year of the Pig

2018 was the year of the dog. Maybe that explains a lot. 2019 is the year of the pig. Supposedly, that means it will be a good year for friendship and love. Let's hope so. The world could use a little more of both. It is also supposed to be a great year to make money. Because pigs are successful. This is where they lose me. Other than Wilbur, McMug, and Napoleon from Animal Farm, I cannot think of any successful pigs. In China, most pigs get chopped up and served on sticks. That is not my definition of success. I think, in general, the Chinese zodiac spends too much time on money.

The Lunar New Year is always after the Solar New Year. Some people consider the Sun male and the Moon female. As a man, the Sun always comes first. This year, the Lunar New Year starts a full month after solar New Year's Day. It can be anywhere from three weeks to almost two months after New Year's Day. The constant date change is pretty easy to get used to, but no one ever seems to know when the new year will begin until around November or December. That can make it difficult to plan things. I can't tell you when Thanksgiving will hit in 2019 without looking it up, but I know the exact date of Christmas or New Year's Eve for the rest of my life. That makes it much easier to plan trips.

Every holiday in China is based on the Chinese calendar, but we use the Gregorian calendar for almost everything else. The calendar on my phone is Gregorian, but it also has little red numbers under all the black numbers. Today is the 1st day of the second month, but also the 27th day of the twelfth month of the previous year. If you ask anyone what the date is, they will say February 1st. Ask anyone when the Lunar New Year starts, and they will say February 5th, even though New Year's Day is, by definition, on the first day of the first month. Every Chinese month starts on a new moon and the year starts on the first day of spring.

It is almost as confusing as the Hebrew calendar they use in Israel. But I never really lived in Israel and was rarely there during any of the big holidays. I never had to convert days and dates, except Shabbat, but that is pretty easy to figure out. Just like China, everyone used the Gregorian calendar. So Shabbat started at sunset on Friday and ended at sunset on Saturday, even though the Hebrew days were something else.

Another great thing about working in Amsterdam is that I will not have to convert any calendars.