Supersitions in the Year of the Pig

2007 - Year of the 'Golden Pig' for having babies

HONG KONG - Supersitious Hong Kong people believe that the Year of the 'Golden' Pig will be the best year to having babies so hospitals are getting ready for a bumper year of surging babies. Hong Kong government might decide to do away with the incentive for procreation and leave the 'Golden Pig' to do it's job.

Furthermore, it is not only the Year to give birth but also Hong Kongers are consulting Feng Shui masters to seek the best days to have babies. Parents want a good birth date to ensure their children are healthy and have a good life.

Why the rush? The Golden Pig come around every 60 years, so for anyone thinking of having it better do it this year than wait another 60 years - I was just kidding.. Feng Shui masters claimed that the 2007 "Year of the Golden Pig" will be the best for giving birth in 600 years!

The Chinese astrology is divides time into 12 recurring year-long blocks, with each year represented by a different animal: the pig is the last in the Zodiac sequence that begins with the rat, followed by the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster and dog. For all cat lovers - the cat did not make cause it was fooled by the rat...

Each year will have different characteristics, according to the representative animal symbol.

Feng Shui masters believe that the Pig symbolises birth, according to Chinese tradition, so the Year of the Pig is especially good for having babies, and Pigs represent wealth and fortune.

Luck Runs out for Wild Boars

VIETNAM - The Year of the Pig brings only disaster to families of pigs roaming the forests of Vietnam, as supersition holds that eating them means prosperity in the year ahead. In this year of the pig, dishes featuring wild pork have become eagerly sought-after.

It is not always possible to have wild boar meat all the time as eateries have to order meat from hunters. Those hunters go into the forest to try to find wild boars. At first, the hunters will kill mature boars only, but as the demand rises they will shoot even piglets and pregnant wild boars.

Wild pork can be cooked as many tempting dishes, so Vietnamese become interested in pork that has the special flavour of game. Also, some Vietnamese like the fresh blood from a wild boars, so hunters try to capture wild boars alive. This brings them a better return. Despite the high demand and prices, Vietnamese elbowed one another out of the way to buy the meat.

I think medically it is very unsafe to eat raw pig's blood and meat and will make you very sick with a disease called yersiniosis. This is caused by the bacteria, Yersinia enterocolitica.

When the demand keeps increasing, the supply also goes up and now there is a growing fear that wild pigs will disappear from Vietnam's forests. Though, there are some places that wild boars are bred and raised like domesticated pig, the number of wild boars is not enough to meet the demand.