Chinese Zodiac SignsWritten by Bo Guo
Each Chinese New Year begins on day of first new moon. In western year 2005, new moon began on February 9. It was Chinese year 4702. In actuality, most Chinese began using western, or solar, calendar in early twentieth century, except on important holidays. Many of calendars in China show both solar dates of western calendar and lunar dates of Chinese calendar. Chinese astrology is based on twelve cycles of moon.The Chinese zodiac consists of twelve animals, rather than solar signs used in west. In Chinese calendar each period lasts for a full cycle of moon, from new to full. There are twelve complete lunar cycles in a Chinese zodiac year, but one animal symbolizes entire year. According to their calendar, Chinese complete a cycle every twelve years. So if you were born in year of rat, you would celebrate your zodiac birthday every twelve years, and your Chinese zodiac sign would be rat. In west your astrological sign appears once each year. The calendar and its animals were created from an ancient legend. It tells us that animals were all fighting about who was going to be in prime (first) position on Chinese calendar. The gods devised a test in which animals would compete for their position by swimming across a river. Another version says that Buddha requested visits by animals before he left earth. He named moon cycles after animals in order of appearance. So Chinese zodiac symbol is a circle divided into twelve equal sections; think of it as if you were marking off slices of a pie. There is a picture of animal representing that Chinese zodiac sign in each section. The calendar’s use dates clear back to 2600 BC. The animals used in Chinese astrology are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep (goat), monkey, rooster, dog, and boar (pig). Persons born during their cycle are said to take on their animal traits:
| | Russian Mail Order Bride - “RETURN TO SENDER"Written by Marina Smiley
Did you know that at least ninety percent of women from Former Soviet Union, countries such as Belarus, Ukraine and Russia haven’t foggiest notion what meaning of “mail order bride” is?They have no comprehension of term “mail order bride” because it was never a part of their culture or history. A “mail order bride is more of a recent phenomena, starting in mid 1800's, steeped more in cultures of North America rather than in Russia. In this article I will discuss how this notion of "mail order brides” could reflect on your Russian wife. With advent of Internet, world began to open up to all peoples with many dating and singles web-sites spring up all over net.. Because there is a shortage of men in Russia, Russian women have turned to finding love and happiness with men of other countries , for them Internet dating looked like an exciting way to find love and happiness. Unfortunately for most of these women, they learn stigma of term “ Mail Order Bride” after finally arriving in Western world. Most likely biggest shock your Russian wife is going to get is negative connotation, “Mail Order Bride” has and how this relates to her, personally. I know many Russian-western couples and each react differently to “mail order bride” labeling. There are those lucky couples who have very supportive friends and relatives where “mail order bride” question has never arisen.
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