Happy Year of the Horse

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the year of the horse, a year characterized by stubbornness and disputes according to an article from the British Independent. Here's an excerpt:

GET READY TO RUMBLE
It will be a fast year full of conflicts according to some astrologers, who see wood as providing fuel for the energetic horse sign. The later part of the year is “yin fire”, increasing the potential for heated clashes even more. Feng shui practitioner Raymond Lo told Reuters: “The upcoming Horse year is also a 'yang wood' year, when people will stick more to their principles and stand firm. So it is hard to negotiate or compromise as there are more tendencies for people to fight for their ideals.”

Of course, toward the bottom of the article, where there is a slideshow for predictions based on the year one was born in, there is a wider range of possibility.

My earliest memory of a Chinese New Year is walking through New York City's Chinatown in the mid to late 1970s and being terrified of the firecracker noises and the smoke that was visible all around. I'm pretty sure we were trying to get to our car to go home. If I'm not mistaken I was with my father and sister, and I can't remember much of what we did that day in the big city.