Year of the Horse

Yesterday was the beginning of the Chinese New Year – a fifteen day period of festivities that mark the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar.    According to the Chinese calendar, months are reckoned using a combination of lunar and solar information.  Yesterday the Chinese year 4712 began.  It is the Year of the Horse and, according to Chinese tradition, those born this year will be cheerful, skillful with money, perceptive, witty, talented and good with their hands.

Each of the fifteen days of the New Year celebration signifies something different.  Traditionally, the second day was when married daughters visited their birth parents, beggars were given envelopes of ‘lucky money’ and it is the birthday celebration of all dogs.  On this day they are remembered with special treats.

Downtown Oysterville

We have a significant dog population in Oysterville and I’m thinking that their owners could probably get behind that last aspect of the Second Day celebration.  Come to think of it, most days are probably Second Day celebrations for Oysterville dogs.  I think, as a group, they are much loved and well-treated no matter when their birthdays are.

There was a time in Pacific County when we had a considerable population of Chinese.  Most were men who were here to work in the fish canneries along the Columbia.  Unfortunately, there is little left to mark their presence beyond a few place names like “China Beach” and “China Hill” and the uncomfortable memory of Lum You, the only person ever hanged in Pacific County.

In the 1880 United States Census of Pacific County, Washington Territory, 90 Chinese were listed, the greatest preponderance of whom lived in the Knappton Precinct.  Whether or not this number reflected all the Chinese population is unknown – census takers seemed to vary in their approach to information gathering in those days.

Bradley and Malcolm

Even so, 90 folks certainly was a big enough population to have a rip-roaring Chinese New Year Celebration.  In 1880, February 10 would have been the first day in the Year of the Dragon and February 11 would have the birthday of all the dogs.  Did they get special treats all those years ago?  It is crazy-making to ponder those insignificant details of times gone by, but still… I wonder.