It’s the year of the tiger in the Lunar New Year. Earlier this week people celebrated with dancing, colorful costumes and drums. For many it’s …
It’s the year of the tiger in the Lunar New Year. Earlier this week people celebrated with dancing, colorful costumes and drums. For many it’s a new idea, but for billions it’s a way to celebrate their culture. USA Today’s Eve Chen and Jordan Mendoza discuss how the holiday is celebrated, its importance, and why it endures. We’ll also get a few hints about what Asian Americans are going through today. For more on the Lunar New Year click here. For more on the year of the Tiger click here. Catch up with James Brown on twitter by clicking here, Eve Chen by clicking here and Jordan Mendoza by clicking here. James Brown: Hi. I’m James Brown and welcome to Five Things. Thanks for joining me. On Sundays, we do things a bit differently, focusing on one topic instead of five. In this week, we’re throwing a party. That’s the sound of New York City’s Chinatown from just a few days ago. The thousands there are celebrating the Lunar New Year. There’s dancing, colorful costumes, and of course drums. For me, it’s a pretty new idea. I thought it was just one day. But for about a billion people around the world, the celebrations go on and take different forms and have different meanings. This year is the year of the tiger, and as Stephen Tin of Better Chinatown’s Society USA told the associated press Steven Tin: The tiger represents energy. Okay? Besides the dragon, the tiger is one of the strongest year health wise for the [inaudible 00:01:05]. So hopefully, we have the tiger help us get rid of the pandemic. James Brown: In this episode, USA Today’s Eve Chen and Jordan Mendoza will teach me a few things about this holiday, its importance, and why it endures. We’ll also get a few hints about what Asian Americans are going through today. First, we’ll get the basics with Jordan Mendoza. I’ve heard of the Year of the Rat. I’ve heard of the Year of the Pig, the Year of the Ox. As I understand, these different years, these different symbols, have different meanings? Jordan Mendoza: So, there’s a 12 year cycle of animals associated with the Lunar New Year. There’s the rat, the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. And so, these 12 year cycles… So this year,2022, is the Year of the Tiger. And using math, the last time that this happened was in 2010, and you go back every 12 years for the cycle to repeat and things like that. So this year is the Year of the Tiger, and with each year that is associated with an animal, it kind of gives off a personality trait if you will, and it usually is indicative of if you were born in that year, then these character traits are probably going to be associated with you, or this is the year where these traits will be associated and this is what it means for you. So the tiger, it’s meant to be a sign of bravery. It’s supposed to be a sign of courage and strength. People take it as a way to do something that is out of your comfort zone or do something that you wouldn’t normally have done. And what’s really cool about these symbols is they commonly associate them to things that are going on in today’s world. So if you look back at last year, last year was the Year of the Ox, and the Year of the Ox is somewhat similar to a tiger where it’s being diligent, being determined, and things like that. And a lot of people associated that with the arrival of COVID vaccines. A pandemic has been affecting this world in such a negative way, and COVID vaccines offered a way of hope. And so, they associated that with the Year of the Ox, whereas this year, if you’re looking at the Year of the Tiger with bravery, courage, and strength, some people can interpret it as we are using this year to get ourselves out of the pandemic. Now, there’s no saying that the pandemic is going to end this year, obviously, but people use it as a symbol like we are almost at the end of this. We are almost at the finish line and we are going to use the strength of the tiger and the year of the tiger to get us out of these hard times. James Brown: I’m getting a bit of an astrology vibe. Jordan Mendoza: Yeah. So they are zodiac signs. That’s what it is. And these signs, they come from tales. They come from old very ancient Chinese tales of what they’re associated with. James Brown: For those who may not know, how different are lunar year celebrations than other new year celebrations? Jordan Mendoza: So when you think of New Year’s, like with our typical calendar with December 31st and January 1st, you picture a big party the night of December 31st and waiting until midnight, and then there’s a huge thing at midnight, and then you party for the rest of the night, and you go to sleep.
