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Botswana: Chinese Celebrate New Year
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
29 January 2008
Posted to the web 29 January 2008
Gasebalwe Seretse
Scores of Chinese nationals and their well-wishers converged at the Grand Palm's GICC to celebrate the beginning of the Chinese New Year last Saturday.
Chinese diplomats from their embassies in Botswana and South Africa graced the event. Proceedings were conducted in Mandarin and English. At the beginning of the event, guests were treated to the 'dragon dance'.
In this traditional dance, which is still popular in festivities in China, dancers perform acrobatic dance manoeuvres holding super-sized animal dummies.
Interestingly, people from other cultures attended the event with the women mostly dressed in Chinese clothes. It would seem that the organisers were well aware of that since they included the English cuisine in the buffet to cater for those who were not ready to sample Chinese food.
One of the popular offerings on the buffet included the ribs of wild boar, which appeared to be a favourite among the Chinese.
According to Spring's Greeting Cards website, this year is the Year of The Rat. In the Chinese Zodiac, the Year Of The Rat begins on February 7, 2008 and ends January 25, 2009.
First in the cycle of 12 Animal signs, Rat Year begins the sequence and recurs every twelfth year.
The organiser of the event, Segametsi Dodzi, of the Grand Palm, explained that although the Chinese new year had not begun, they were forced by circumstances to celebrate it early.
"Most of the Chinese residents of this country will go back home to celebrate in their home country so we decided to hold the celebration today," she said.
According to the Chinese tradition, a Rat Year is a time of hard work, activity and renewal.
The Chinese also believe that this is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start.
According to the website, ' in Chinese, the Rat is respected and considered a courageous, enterprising person'. People born in the Year of the Rat are believed to be clever and bright, sociable and family-minded. The website further says that they have broad interests and strong ability in adapting to the environment and able to react adequately to any changes.
The Chinese also believe that people born in an Earth Rat are logical realists, shrewd, charming, ambitious and inventive.
They also believe that since the sign of the rat is the first one in the cycle, this makes the Rat people exude great leadership and are good at taking the lead.
According to the Chinese Zodiac, all the people born in 1963, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996 and 2008 are Rat People.
Some of the famous Rat People include, Alyssa Milano, Cameron Diaz, Daryl Hannah, Gwyneth Paltrow, Olivia Newton-John, Sinead Cusack, Steve Hicks and Tracy Polan.
The next Rat Year will be 2020.
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Sponsors of the Chinese New Year included The Grand Palm, Air Botswana, Amara Travel Agency, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Emperor Palace, Tusk Mmabatho Casino Resort, Graceland Hotel Casino and Country Club and Frontier Inn and Casino.
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| Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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