The Year Of The Cock — I Mean — Rooster!! (Thanks Mark!)

Rise and shine: In the Year of the (Wood) Rooster
By Sheila Melissa A. Maniego
Fireworks at the strike of midnight! How fitting!

I don’t know about you but the first few days of January for me always reverb with a different kind of energy. The air crackles with the collective anticipation of the full year ahead. Many see it as another chance to start afresh in the different aspects of our lives. Plans for and with loved ones are mapped out, financial targets are set, fitness and health programs are reviewed and adjusted…

Sigh. Don’t you love having the chance to seek new avenues in attacking problems and issues, see things in a new light? The New Year is always the best chance, and the reason why control freaks (ehem, risk assessors, ehem, like yours truly) pore through every detail of plans, some ask for the blessing of the gods and the help of the saints and the spirits, decking themselves with all kinds of charms and amulets for luck.

And luck we can all afford to have: in business, in the family, in love…And Chinese or not, regardless of religion, beliefs and values, it is usually interesting to listen to/get predictions and advise on how to bring in luck, well, um, just to see if they would come true.

There are many ways to predict the future. Some use the alignment of the planets/stars, some use the different kinds of tarot cards, then there are tea leaves, runes, I Ching cards, the ouija board, magick and wizardry, psychic powers, and then there is the more familiar Chinese horoscope.

Curious about where the inquiry on the Year of the Rooster would lead me, I merely followed the links in Google and put together what I found. The bits and pieces of information came out interesting. Here goes.

2005: The year of the rooster

In Chinese astrology, “the lunar calendar has a 60-year cycle,” made up of the combination of the twelve animal signs and the five basic elements of water, fire, earth, metal and wood. Each combination reveals the ‘personality traits’ of a person. Some years, the element involved works well with the animal, in some years, against, thus interpretation of the combinations can be very tricky (since that is not within the writer’s powers, you would not find predictions for the year on this page, sorry).

2005 is the Year of the (Wood) Rooster. It starts on 09 February 2005 and ends on 28 January 2006. Believer in horoscopes or not, here’s the challenge: see if you know any rooster and identify the “rooster traits” they manifest. Raise the challenge one notch: if you like the “rooster traits” as described below, you have more than enough time to bring a rooster into your life.

Rooster years

1801, 1813, 1825, 1837, 1849, 1861, 1873, 1885, 1897, 1909, 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993

The rooster traits

Banidoso; expects from himself and others high standards in conduct and dressing; basically conservative; practical and resourceful; although quick thinking, they are cautious; moody; eccentric; finds joy in solitary activities; keenly observant/ attentive to details; the ‘proverbial open book,’ the rooster prefers to tell the truth and keep his/her word; they make devoted friends.

The wood element

The element of wood suggests growth, creation, expansion like the rings of the tree trunk, and nourishment cycles. It also suggests strength, and passivity.

The famous rooster-born

Confucius – Born in 551 BC, in the state of Lu. Famous for the philosophy that evolved from his phrases and theories on law and governance, and life in general: “If you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life;” “Do not do unto others what you do not want done unto you;” and “They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.”

Benjamin Franklin – Born on 17 January 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. A scientist, inventor, stateman (signee of the Declaration of Independence and of the Treaty of Alliance with France, promoted the abolition of slavery), philosopher, musician and an economist. Inventions: bifocal eyeglasses, odometer, flexible urinary catheter, lightning rod (not electricity) that protected buildings and ships from lightning damage.

Catherine the Great – Born on 21 April 1729 in Stettin (then Germany, now Poland). The Internet Modern History Sourcebook describes Catherine II as an ambitious person, whose love affairs (‘hundreds’ of them, and with younger men at that) almost eclipsed her success as a monarch, who “followed Peter the Great in seeing Russia (which has been part of an Asian Empire for centuries) as a European Power,” expanding the Russian Empire’s territory by “about 200,000 square miles.”

Richard Wagner – Born on 22 May 1813 in Leipzig. One of the world’s greatest composers. He believed that theatre was not just for entertainment, but that it should be “the center of a community’s culture.”

William Faulkner – Born on 25 September 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi, William Cuthbert Falkner (as his family name was then spelled) was a Nobel prize winning novelist and short story writer who started finding school a bore at 6th grade (he never finished high school). To be able to follow the complex plot of “A Fable,” he wrote the outline of the novel on the walls of his office. He wrote for television and film, and his “Requiem For A Nun” was adapted for stage.

Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino – Born on 25 January 1933 in Tarlac, she became the first woman president of the Republic of the Philippines on 26 February 1986, two and a half years after her husband Benigno Aquino Jr., was assassinated. Her administration restored democratic governance in the country, surviving economic difficulties and six coup attempts.

Other famous rooster personalities: Verdi, Rachmaninoff, Johann Strauss, Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Goldie Hawn, Katherine Hepburn, Larry King, Eric Clapton, Bette Midler, Steve Martin

Mister D: Would you be compatible with Bette this year?
Rat 1924 1936 1948 1960 1972 1984 1996
Ox 1925 1937 1949 1961 1973 1985 1997
Tiger 1926 1938 1950 1962 1974 1986 1998
Rabbit 1927 1939 1951 1963 1975 1987 1999
Dragon 1928 1940 1952 1964 1976 1988 2000
Snake 1929 1941 1953 1965 1977 1989 2001
Horse 1930 1942 1954 1966 1978 1990 2002
Goat 1931 1943 1955 1967 1979 1991 2003
Monkey 1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 2004
Rooster 1933 1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005
Dog 1934 1946 1958 1970 1982 1994 2006
Pig 1935 1947 1959 1971 1983 1995 2007

Rooster compatibility with other signs according to Shelly Wu
(1-least compatible, 100-most compatible):
rat – 66 – steamy, yes, but not lasting
ox – 86 – you are lucky enough to find each other
tiger – 55 – not a balanced relationship
rabbit – 53 – well, maybe not
dragon – 72 – balanced but not passionate
snake – 90 – a love connection, omens favorable
horse – 58 – if they must, but not recommended
goat – 42 – they’ll be unhappy, even they pretend
monkey – 75 – probably, who knows
rooster- 33 – it will be a miracle if it works!
dog – 63 – only if it’s absolutely necessary
pig – 81 – the pig is patient, it could work

Historic rooster years

1909 – William Howard Taft, the first civil governor of the Philippines, becomes the 27th President of the USA.

1921 – Reparations Committee fixes German (WWII) liability at 132 billion gold marks. Texaco starts marketing and distribution of petroleum products in the Philippines.

1933 – Hitler becomes German chancellor and gets dictatorial powers. Nazi terror begins. Germany and Japan withdraw from the League of Nations. Inauguration of President Franklin Roosevelt, launched the New Deal which aimed to revive the US economy, and the Prohibition was repealed. USSR is recognized by the US.

1945 – Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin plan for the final defeat of Germany. Roosevelt dies of cerebral hemorrhage on 12 April. Hitler commits suicide. Germany surrenders. US bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The US liberates the Philippines from the Japanese. The UN is established on 26 June. The first electronic computer (ENIAC) is built.

1957 – The Space Age begins: the Russians launch Sputnik, the first earth-orbiting satellite. President Ramon Magsaysay dies in a plane crash and Carlos Garcia succeeded him.

1969 – Violent conflict between the NYC police and homosexuals (Stonewall riot) marks the beginning of the modern gay rights movement worldwide. Apollo 11 astronauts take man’s first walk on the moon. Educational television takes a big leap with Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch as Sesame Street starts airing. The Internet is born: UCLA connects with the Stanford Research Institute. President Ferdinand Marcos is re-elected.

1981 – Ronald Reagan becomes US president. US SC rules that former President Nixon may have to pay monetary damages for unconstitutional wiretapping of a residential telephone line. Pope John Paul II visits Manila in February. Marcos gets another 6-year term as President. AIDS gains awareness in the US (the Official US Definition of AIDS came out in 1993), and the UK gets its first documented case of the disease.

1993 – The Single European Market is launched on 01 January. President Bill Clinton agrees to compromise on military’s ban on homosexuals. The World Trade Center in NYC is bombed (26 February). Iraq accepts UN weapons monitoring. China breaks moratorium on nuclear testing, for national defense. With the ratification processes completed, the Treaty of the European Union enters into force in November.

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