Society
Superstitious Chinese flock to wed before 2010 Lunar New Year
By Li Jing (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-11-26 16:55
But the 2010 lunar year is not a normal one.
As has been mentioned in the second paragraph, the 2010 lunar year begins on February 14 (see bar below), which is ten days behind “Spring Commences”, and ends on February 3, 2011, one day before the next "Spring Commences". That is to say, the lunar year 2010 has no "Spring Commences", which, in China, means no coming of Yang (masculine), which is opposite to Yin (feminine).
To a woman, no coming of Yang (masculine) naturally means no husband, which in turn makes the woman a widow.
In fear that getting married in 2010 might bring inauspicious results to the couple, many superstitious Chinese parents are urging their children to advance the date of the big event, which leads to crowds of couples getting married.
Qi Shoucheng, a folklorist from Shenyang, said "Widow Years are just coincidences between the lunar and solar calendars. It's sheer nonsense that women getting married in these years might bring harm to their husbands and render themselves widows."
"Crowding to get married and give birth to babies in so-called auspicious years might create inconveniences to the couples," said Zhang Kegang, assistant researcher from Weifang Institute, Shandong province, "When many couples give birth to their babies in the same year, education resources and opportunities might get scarce when these children reach school ages, and competition might become fiercer when they begin looking for jobs."
