BEIJING: Some people are born lucky. Parents in China, however, would rather not leave their kids’ fate to chance. For the past few weeks, many couples have been trying desperately to conceive, racing against time to have a baby in the fortuitous Year of the Horse. Their reasoning: No one wants a baby born in 2015, the dreaded Year of the Sheep.
Sheep are meek creatures, raised for nothing more than slaughter. Babies born in the Year of the Sheep, therefore, will grow up to be followers rather than leaders, according to some superstitions. The children are destined for heartbreak and failed marriages, and will be unlucky in business, many Chinese believe. One popular folk saying holds that only one out of 10 people born in the Year of the Sheep finds happiness.
According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the Year of the Sheep (also called goat or ram) begins on February 19, 2015, so the window for conception closes around the end of this month.
Many patients have inquired about early delivery via Caesarean section to ensure a horse-year birth, said Li Jianjun, an obstetrician at Beijing’s United Family Hospital.
The baby-mania is so widespread that the state-run China News Service issued a report trying to debunk the “unfounded” myth of bad luck for those born in Year of the Sheep. It’s unclear how the Year of the Sheep came to acquire its bad reputation.
Each of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac has it virtues and faults. The undisputed favourite is the dragon, often followed by tiger and horse, which is associated with success. Even rats (considered clever and agile) and snakes (which look like mini dragons) are considered lucky. But sheep have fewer advantageous qualities, according to some interpretations.
Those born in sheep years are thought of as passive, loyal, generous and kind. Some of those virtues may be wonderful in an ideal world, but not so useful in the dog-eat-dog real world.
WP-Bloomberg
