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Chinese New Year, The Year Of The Fire Rooster–What Should You Expect?

By Georgia Makitalo
Published on: 06:00 PST, Jan 28, 2017

Chinese New Year starts today, January 28, 2017, with one-sixth of the world celebrating. The Chinese New Year animal is none other than the rooster. The fire rooster. According to experts, in the year of the fire rooster, wishes and dreams should come true. Is this true for everyone? How can we get the most out of the lunar year of the fire rooster?

Every year, the Spring Festival, what the Chinese call their New Year, commences on the date corresponding with the cycle of the moon, not unlike Easter or Passover. There is a different zodiac animal for each year, cycling every 12 years. This year it is the rooster. The next zodiac animals, in order, are dog, pig, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey and in 2029, it will be the rooster again. Then there are the five elements: water, wood, earth, metal and with this year, fire. These also cycle every twelve years. This means that it takes 60 years before the fire rooster is the zodiac animal and element again. The next time will be in 2077.

Year of the Fire Rooster | Image by Linh Pham/Getty Images
Year of the Rooster. [Image by Linh Pham/Getty Images]

Director of the China Culture Centre in Sydney, Australia, Zhao Li spoke with The Courier about the year of the fire rooster. She has fabulous news for almost everyone: this is going to be a unique year, filled with great expectation.

“This year is special, full of expectation.”

Li further explains the “fire” part of fire rooster, using some imaginative words for fire.

“Fire by its very nature is the element associated with brilliance, warmth, passion, spark.”

Then she explained the combination of fire with the zodiac animal sign of the rooster. This combo means it will be a year of success and realizing your dream!

“So a brilliant and enthusiastic rooster, combined with the salient characteristics of fire, heralds an enterprising and fruitful year, a year of results, achievements. This year we can fulfil all of our dreams.”

While the year sounds great for almost everyone, roosters are not included in on this good luck. The year of your zodiac animal always means bad luck. According to Chinese tradition, those who are roosters are cursed by the God of Age, Tai Sui, who is easily offended. So, anyone who is a rooster this lunar year needs to be on their best behavior.

Some pretty famous celebrities are roosters and they include Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Aniston, Britney Spears, Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Beyonce. Born under the fire rooster, Vanna White, Donny Osmond, Steve Harvey and Fran Drescher are all turning 60 this year, the first time since the year of their birth that it is a fire rooster year. This may be quite a trying year for each of them.

So, how can any roosters improve their luck in the year of the fire rooster? According to Chinahighlights, wearing red will help bring you good luck. In fact, they claim that “red can drive away bad luck and evil spirits,” and suggest that wearing anything red, from socks to turtlenecks, will only help a rooster improve on their luck.

Everyone can improve their luck by spring cleaning your home and ridding yourself of the old, while allowing for new to come into your life. Decorating your home with red and gold is considered lucky and buying an orchid or peony is also bring renewal and rebirth.

Eating the right foods will also bring you good luck. Revelers will want to feast on dumplings and spring rolls, which will bring wealth, fish for surplus, noodles for longevity, rice cakes for improvement and sweet rice balls for a cozy family life.

No Chinese New Year celebration is complete without fireworks and firecrackers. Invented in China over 2000 years ago, the colorful explosions of fire are a must for any Chinese New Year celebration.

What about presents? Children are given red envelopes with money, or for the tech savvy family, money is sent by way of an app.

Ready for the year of the fire rooster? How do you celebrate Chinese New Year?

[Featured Image by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images]

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