Year of the Tiger

I’m fed up with the politics and fallout from the issue surrounding the use of the word ‘Allah’ by the Catholic Herald and the Anwar Ibrahim cringe in his reluctance, again, to decisively take action against an indiscipline and unrepentant Kulim Wonder, so tonight, for a break I’ll blog on a non-political matter.

On 14 February this year we usher in the year of the Tiger, one of the 12 animal symbols in the Chinese calendar. It’s a symbol which has never been popular with Chinese astrologists or feng shui masters. The Tiger year is likely to be volatile and fearsome. Not unexpectedly it is associated with wars, disasters and disputes. It is also said to be a year for massive change but which may bring out the best.


Apart from the 12 animal symbols in the Chinese calendar, there are also 5 elements to consider, namely, fire, earth, wood, water and metal.

This coming year (14 Feb 2010 to 2 Feb 2011) will be the turn of the Metal Tiger. People born in this year will be aggressive, attractive, diligent, but mainly motivated by self interest and thus selfish. I am reminded of a couple of sweeties ;-)

However, the worst of the Tigers is the Fire Tiger, which fortunately we only experience once every 60 years.

You’re safe for a while because the last two occurrences were in 1926 (13 Feb 1926 to 1 Feb 1927) and 1986 (9 Feb 1986 to 28 Jan 1987). It will come next in 2046, by which time I will be either too old to be bothered or safe in the happy hunting ground chasing after phoenixes and unicorns, and perhaps a few sweeties as well wakakaka.

While Tiger years in general are feared for their potential for violence or nastiness, the Fire Tiger year takes the cake for this notoriety.

In 1926 (Fire Tiger), a couple of hurricanes caused havoc in Miami and Cuba, and Mount Vesuvius erupted. The unfortunate item in 1926 was the beginning of the Japanese Showa era, where Emperor Hirohito reigned to give us WWII as well as the genocidal Rape of Nanking.

60 years later, in 1986, humongous hail stones, each around 1 kg, fell on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92 unfortunate people who weren’t exactly expecting ice. That same month (April) the Chernobyl disaster occurred. In Cameroon, a crater lake called Nyos suddenly emitted a large cloud of CO2 gas, suffocating 1700 people and 3500 heads of livestock. An earthquake in El Salvador killed 1,500 people.

I suppose we could say for Germany that year was also a monumental disaster when it was beaten by Argentina 3-2 in the FIFA World Cup in Mexico City.

However, it doesn’t explain why it was during the Wood (not Fire) Tiger year of 1914 when WWI happened.

Then in 1938 in the nasty prelude to WWII, when Japan was raping China and invading (or attempting to anyway) the USSR, it was an Earth Tiger year.

The Russian defeating the Japanese at the Battle of Lake Khasan and again in Mongolia was to have devastating fallout. With the Japanese Army in disgrace, Japan’s military dictatorship opted for the Navy’s plan of striking south against the Europeans’ colonies in SE Asia (instead of north to occupy Siberia and its natural resources), and consequentially at the Americans at Pearl Harbour.

Chinese Malaysians and no doubt overseas Chinese will be avoiding weddings in this coming feline year. Superstitious Chinese would also avoid marrying their sons to women born in the year of the Tiger.

Mind you, I had a (Hongkie) ex who is a Tiger sweetie, and she was sweet and rather fun to be around with, but too full of yang energy (bossy and domineering). Hardly surprising that the sweetie went on to become a millionaire in her own rights.

Though Tigers are believed to be highly compatible with Dogs, alas she married a Hongkie millionaire :( Each coming Chinese New Year I would receive an expensive looking greeting card from her, with an invitation to visit and stay with her (and hubby of course). Probably she wants to show me she has done bloody well without me wakakaka!

But jokes aside, if you want something very sad, please read my new post Dreaming of Tiger Lily over at my other blog, KTemoc Kongsamkok. It’s a true story.