Two thousand and eighteen is The Year Of The Dog.
I didn’t stay up until midnight.
New Year’s is accompanied by some very precise superstitions oriented around bringing good luck. The state in which one finds oneself at the turn of midnight is thought to be predictive of the tenor of one’s year. Kissing someone at midnight, for example, is not just about celebrating with your significant whatever, it is intended to preserve that relationship for the next twelve months.
More practically, one can ensure prosperity and financial success in the coming year by stocking up one’s cupboards, refrigerator, and larder; filling one’s wallet with cash; paying off outstanding bills and debts (think credit cards rather than the mortgage); doing a small amount of symbolic work on New Year’s Day; and eating black eyed peas. In Ireland starting the year with a spotless house augured well for the coming year.
Most of these superstitions are focused on the idea of the house and household, which is why the first person to step foot into your residence after midnight influences the shape of the year to come. Ideally, the “first footer” or “lucky bird” should bring small gifts (tradition prescribes a lump of coal, silver coin, bread, something green, and a small amount of salt).
The first footer is, in paramount conditions, a tall attractive man with dark hair. Redheads and blondes, cross-eyed people, flat-footed individuals and those who have eyebrows that meet in the middle bring bad luck.
There was some diversity of opinion from country to country about whether or not one wanted a married first footer or a single one, but there seems to have been a near universal consensus that female first footers should be shooed away, with the use of firearms if necessary.
Two thousand and eighteen is The Year Of The Dog.
Lucky Numbers: 3, 4, 9; Avoid: 1, 6, 7
Lucky Flowers:rose, oncidium, cymbidium, orchids,
Lucky Colors:green, red, purple; Avoid: blue, white, golden
Season:Autumn
Two thousand-eighteen is The Year Of The Dog.
For thousands of years, a twelve-year cycle named after various real or mythological animals has been used in Southeast Asia. This twelve-year cycle, sometimes referred to as the “Chinese zodiac,” associates each year in turn with a certain creature, in a fixed order of twelve animals, after which it returns to the first in the order, the Rat. The eleventh in the cycle is the Dog.
One account is that the order of the beings-of-the-year is due to their order in a racing contest involving swimming across a river, in the so-called Great Race.
The reason for the Dog finishing the race second from last despite generally being a talented swimmer is explained as being due to its playful nature: the Dog played and frolicked along the way, thus delaying completing the course and reaching the finishing line.
The story of my life.
The personalities of people born in Dog years are popularly supposed to share certain attributes associated with Dogs, such as loyalty or exuberance; however, this would be modified according to other considerations of Chinese astrology, such as the influences of the month, day and hour of birth, according to the traditional system of Earthly Branches, in which the zodiacal animals are also associated with the months and times of the day (and night), in twelve two-hour increments.
The Hour of the Dog is 7 to 9 p.m. Coincidentally, right about my bedtime.
But… 2018 is The Year Of The Dog. Can’t help it. Just like the way that sounds. And not a moment too soon.
The first day’s weather was meteorological crap. But the old dog comforted himself with the idea, still the best in the country.
2018. The Year Of The Dog.
MAKE DOG GREAT AGAIN.