This Chinese New Year has many questioning which animal is the true representative for 2015.
Bidding Farewell to the Year of the Horse yesterday, there is confusion abound as to whether this year (2015) is actually dedicated to the Sheep, the Ram, or the Goat.
Given that the Mandarin term for Yang ('horned animal') which was ancient characters found on bones used for divination in the Bronze Age, covers all 3 animals, it is quite accepted to refer to each.
Dating back to the Han Dynasty, (206BC-220AD) the Chinese Zodiac Calendar is being blamed for the debate. The Chinese Zodiac’s animals symbolize each New Year and are interpreted as to predict a person's fortune for that year.
Some are saying it’s the Goat, some are saying the sheep or Ram, depending on the part of Asia that is celebrating.
The Chinese community state that is mostly westerners that are seeking confirmation of which animal is the official one.
For more information see Wikipedia’s article for more information on the Lunar cycles and animals of the Chinese New Year.
We would like to wish a “Gong Hei Fat Choi” to all of our Chateauguay Community members who are celebrating this New Year!