(Hanoi) The Lunar or Chinese New Year will be celebrated around the world this weekend to welcome the Year of the Rabbit, except in Vietnam where the Year of the Cat will begin.
Streets across the country are adorned with feline statues and shops are brimming with cat-themed decorations, popular gifts during the Vietnamese New Year, known as Tet.
Vietnam and its neighbor China, where the Lunar New Year is the most important period of the calendar, share 10 of the 12 signs of the zodiac calendar but the Vietnamese honor the cat instead of the rabbit, and the buffalo instead of the ox.
There are a multitude of theories to explain why the Vietnamese opted for the cat.
The answer may lie in the rice paddies dear to Vietnamese farmers, according to historian Nguyen Hieu Tin.
“With the threat of many rats in the rice fields, cats (which can hunt them) are a popular pet for Vietnamese people,” he told AFP.
“Another explanation is that the Vietnamese do not want to observe two years with a similar animal. But for them, the mouse and the rabbit are closely linked,” added the expert.
According to another theory, it comes from a mistranslation of the Chinese word “mao” which designates the rabbit.
In Vietnamese, it sounds like “meo”, which means cat.
The Year of the Cat is said to bring good luck and guarantee a smooth life.
In Hanoi, where kumqats and pink flowers have taken over stalls, office worker Hoang Thi Huong Giang was unaware of why Vietnamese honor a different zodiac animal than the rest of the world.
But she thinks those born in the Year of the Cat, like her, are pretty good-tempered.
“It seems true that those born in the Year of the Cat are often more active, hardworking and easygoing,” Giang says proudly.