While the rest of East Asia welcomes the Year of the Rabbit on Sunday, Vietnamese people will be celebrating the Year of the Cat.
No one knows when or why the Vietnamese started favoring the cat over the rabbit.
The Year of the Ox is celebrated in Vietnam with the addition of the omnipresent water buffalo, one of the few notable deviations from the otherwise almost similar festivities of the 12-year Chinese Zodiac cycle.
Ngo Huong Giang, a culture expert based in Hanoi, speculates that the similarity in pronunciation between the Mandarin phrase for the rabbit in the Chinese astrological ordering system and the Vietnamese word for a cat may have had a role in the decision to adopt the cat as a cultural symbol. Similarly uncommon in Vietnam is the practice of raising rabbits.
A certain fact is that Vietnamese people are not open to altering their customs.
Ngo Quy Dung, a native of Hanoi, proudly said that he was born 60 years ago in the Year of the Cat, and he criticized the rabbit for not having as much strength as a cat. Nguyen Kim Chi, a 64-year-old Hanoian, concurs.
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She was snapping pictures next to a giant cat monument in Central Park in the nation's capital when she said, "The cat seems more magnificent since it also resembles a tiny tiger."
In preparation for the Lunar New Year, cat-themed sculptures and a plethora of cat-themed charms and gadgets have appeared in public locations around the nation.
Cats are used as a marketing tool by certain eateries. According to researcher Giang, most Vietnamese see the cat as a trusted family member who not only keeps rodents at bay but also drives away evil spirits and ushers in prosperity. While this, cat meat may still be found on certain rural menus despite being illegal in urban areas.
Source: Reuters
I began my career in the banking industry in 1997, and stayed approx 6 years in it. This industry boost his knowledge about the economic condition in Indonesia, both macro and micro, and how to
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understand it. My banking career continued in Yogyakarta when I joined in a program funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB),as the coordinator for a program aimed to help improve the quality of learning and teaching process in private universities in Yogyakarta. When the earthquake stroke Yogyakarta, I chose to join an international NGO working in the area of ?disaster response and management, which allows me to help rebuild the city, as well as other disaster-stricken area in Indonesia. I went on to become the coordinator for emergency response in the Asia Pacific region. Then I was assigned for 1 year in Cambodia, as a country coordinator mostly to deliver developmental programs (water and sanitation, education, livelihood). In 2009, he continued his career as a protocol and HR officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Surabaya, and two years later I joined the Political and Economic Section until now, where i have to deal with extensive range of people and government officials, as well as private and government institution troughout eastern Indonesia.
I am the founder and Editor-in-Chief in Good News From Indonesia (GNFI), a growing and influential social media movement, and was selected as one of The Most Influential Netizen 2011 by The Marketeers magazine.
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