Kim Nguyen sheds light on Chinese Zodiac traditional belief
In their Year of Birth — any year that falls on their birth sign — followers of the Chinese Zodiac believe they are destined to have an unlucky year. Calgarian Kim Nguyen was born in the Year of the Snake, so her Year of Birth was 2013. As we move into 2014, the Year of the Horse, Nguyen shares her experiences to help “Horses” prepare for the year ahead.
Kim Nguyen sheds light on Chinese Zodiac traditional belief
“Whether it’s regarding your career, health or relationships, unexpected bad fortune can easily arise during your year.”
— Kim Nguyen
The Chinese zodiac has always been something that many people follow —especially in the Asian community. It consists of 12 animal signs that rotate each Chinese calendar year. This is slightly different from Western horoscope signs, which rotate on a monthly basis.
Similar to Western horoscope signs, there are certain traits associated with different animals in the Chinese zodiac. There is a compatibility chart as well, dictating which animals get along with others when it comes to business and relationships.
The Chinese zodiac dictates that depending on what year it is, it could be a good year for your sign, or a bad year where you should take extra precautions. The biggest myth surrounding this belief is that anytime it is your sign’s year in the Chinese zodiac, it will most likely be an unlucky year.
Whether it’s regarding your career, health or relationships, unexpected bad fortune can easily arise during your year. Travelling on long trips should be avoided as well — this typically means any trip over a week.
Buddhist Calgarian Kim Nguyen offers words of wisdom to “Horses” for their upcoming year.
Photo provided Kim Nguyen
My sign is the Snake, and since 2013 was the Year of the Snake, it was supposed to be an unlucky one for me. My family is full Buddhist, and it was mandatory that I went to temple regularly to pray. The tradition in our religion is that at the start of each New Year, you should go into temple to pray to the gods because they will protect you and lessen any bad fortune you may come in contact with. If it’s your year, this is mandatory regardless.
For example, if something like as a car accident were to happen, the protection of the gods could lessen it to something like a simple rear end collision with minor damages. Of course, it’s still bad fortune that it happened to you, but at least the impact would be much less.
With my experience last year, I would say this myth is true to a certain extent. 2013 wasn’t the smoothest year for business dealings — I had interruptions left, right and center but this could also be caused by other external factors.
When comparing my business dealings to colleagues who were other Chinese zodiac signs, things didn’t seem that bad for them. Though nothing major happened, I experienced minor inconveniences and setbacks in business.
From analyzing and comparing with the past “Snake” years, I would say it’s a fair, generalized assumption that it will be a bad year, but my advice to anyone who follows this belief is to take it with a grain of salt. At least you are preparing for the worst, whether it happens or doesn’t happen.
There are many resources on the Internet that can tell you what animal represents your birth year in the Chinese zodiac, as well as which years are supposed to be favourable for you.
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