Lunar New Year: Celebrating the Year of the Cat

I’m sure most people are aware that Chinese New Year is being celebrated this Sunday, 22 January, welcoming in the Year of the Rabbit. It’s the start of the lunar year in the East Asian calendar rather than the solar one followed in the UK, Europe and America. Vietnam also follows a lunar calendar but for people of that culture it’s the Year of the Cat. 

There are various explanations of why the Vietnamese have the cat instead of the Rabbit as a zodiac animal. The most common one is that in the ordering system used for lunar year, the word for rabbit in the zodiac – “Mão” -  sounds like the Vietnamese word for “cat”. I’ve also blogged in the past as to why the Chinese have a rabbit rather than a cat.

While I’m fond of rabbits, I particularly like cats. The photo on this page is one I took at the Mind, Body, Soul exhibition a few years ago. I thought I’d continue the Year of the Cat by doing more posts about our feline friends over the next 12 months. In particular I’ll be reviving a series of posts called Witches’ Cats. If you have a picture of your cat or kitten you would like to send me to post on A Bad Witch’s Blog, email me at [email protected].

Previous related cat posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/06/witches-cats-beautiful-emmisary-of-bast.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2019/10/witches-cats-tuppence-in-her-halloween.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2018/11/witches-cats-and-others-at-british.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/04/pagan-eye-black-cat-statuette-as-every.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/10/bastet-at-british-museum-for-national.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/02/review-grimalkyn-witchs-cat-power.html

To read more posts like this visit A Bad Witch’s Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk