Chinese New Year 2014 - The Year of Green Wood Horse
2014 Chinese New Year
The
first day of the 2014 Chinese New Year is on January 31, 2014
in China's time zone. This day is a new moon day, and is the first day of
the first Chinese lunar month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar system. The exact new moon time is at 05:39 a.m. on 31-Jan-2014 in China's time zone.
The Year 2014 is the 4711th Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C., therefore China will enter the 4711th year on January 31, 2014. Also, the Chinese Year uses the cycle of 60 Stem-Branch counting systems and the Green Wood Horse is the 31st Stem-Branch in the cycle. Since (60 *78) + 31 = 4711, therefore 2014 is the Wooden Horse year, which is the 4711th Chinese Year.
2014 is the year of Horse. Some people say 2014 is a Green Horse or
Wooden Horse year. This is because the Stem-Branch
Calendar is connected to the Five Element theory.
Chinese calendars used the Stem-Branch system to count the days, months and years. There are 10 Stems and 12 Branches in this system. Stems are named by the Yin-Yang and Five Elements (Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth). The Stem sequence order is
2014 Year of Horse
Horse is one of Chinese favorite animals. Horse provides people quick transportation before automobiles, so people can quickly reach their destinations. Horse even can help people to win the battle. Therefore Horse is a symbol of traveling, competition and victory. That's why Horse is connected to speedy success in China.
Horses like to compete with others. They pursuit for their freedom, passion and leadership. That implies that people will have busy schedule for their goals in the year of Horse. Horse hour of Chinese Horoscopes is from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. Sunshine generates lots of heat during the Horse hour. Therefore, horse is connected to heat, fire and red. Horses like the social activities, because horses like show off themselves. Since horse is a social animal and red is also connected to love, therefore. horse is treated as a Romantic Star in Chinese Horoscope.
Dragon and Horse are auspicious symbols to Chinese. Chinese said that the best flyer is the sky is Dragon and the best runner on the ground is Horse. Dragon and Horse are the symbols of high-rank, outstanding, noble and leadership. Chinese history book said Horse has 30 percents of Dragon personality. More than 8-foot tall Horse is called Dragon-Horse. There was a Dragon-Horse jumped out of the Yellow River almost 5000 years ago. Fu Xi saw that Dragon-Horse had a diagram on its horseback, which inspired him to invent the I-Ching Pre-Heaven Pa- Kua. Chinese civilization began to take off since that. Chinese sometimes encourage people using the Spirit of the Dragon-Horse. Dragon-Horse Spirit doesn't mean only a person with full energy as the Dragon-Horse, but also, a person pushing himself to transcend his potential to hold the leadership.
Every Chinese dynasty, Chinese look for sturdy and beautiful stallions. The stallion must be tall and be able to outrun other horses. If the stallion can run one-thousand-Chinese-mile (about 312 miles) a day, then it called one-thousand-Chinese-mile Horse, which means winged steed. One-thousand-Chinese-mile Horses can help the emperors to conquer the nation. Also, a winged steed can save the master's life by running away swiftly, if the master cannot fight with the enemy. Today, when a person is called one-thousand-Chinese-mile Horse, that means the person is a hard-to-find, outstanding, experienced elite and knows how to run the business.
One of famous one-thousand-Chinese-mile Horses in China is called Sweat-Blood Horse. They said the sweat of Sweat-Blood Horse is red, when it runs in high speed for a while. According to the study, Sweat-Blood Horse was a Turkmenistan horse breed. One Chinese emperor sent more than 50 thousand soldiers to Turkmenistan to bring back a thousand of Sweat-Blood Horses. But only half of horses arrived China alive.
Genghis Khan built the Mongol Empire by horses. The Mongol Horses were a smaller breed, they were bred for endurance, not for speed like stallions. Genghis Khan conquered Eastern Europe so quickly. Because Eastern European countries never realized Mongol cavalry can arrive their territories so fast and they didn't have enough time to prepare the defense. They said each Mongol cavalryman had three or four horses. They will change another horse when one got tired. So Mongolian horses can take turn and get some rest. Mongol cavalryman even knew how to sleep in the saddle. That's why they can travel long distances without stopping. We know horses can sleep while standing. Mongolian horses have a better sleeping skill. When they ran in a group, the horse in the center can sleep while running.
Horse is intelligent animal. Horses need to be trained to become useful to human. Human can make Horse famous. Without human's guide, Horse just a wild animal. It doesn't know where to go. There is no destination in its life.
Chinese New Year Festival
The 15th lunar day of Chinese New Year is the Chinese Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year is on January 31, 2014. Therefore, the Chinese Lantern Festival is on February 14, 2014, which is the Chinese Valentine's Day. People like to ask friends to see lantern displays together at the night of the lantern festival in China. Chinese Lantern Festival is one of Chinese Valentine's Days.
February 14, 2014 is also a Full Moon Day in US time zones. 2014 Valentine's Day will be a romantic night for people in love. More information at 2014 Full Moon Valentine.
2014 Chinese Lantern Festival is Full Moon
Valentine's Day
2014 Year of Horse - Lunar Calendar and Astrology Calendar
The new moon date is the first day of the lunar month. The new moon time of the Tiger month of 2014 is at 16:39 p.m. on 30-Jan-2014 in US Eastern time zone. The new moon time of the Tiger month of 2014 is at 13:39 p.m. on 30-Jan-2014 in US Pacific time zone. Therefore, the Chinese New Year Day for US time zones is on January 30, 2014, not January 31, 2014. People in US don't have to wait for one day to celebrate Chinese New Year Day.
In the Chinese Fortune-Telling calendar, the first day of the first month, Tiger month, is called "Start of Spring", which is when the sun enters the 315th degree on the tropical zodiac. In the China's time zone, the time of the Start of Spring is at Feb-04 06:04. So the first day of the Green Horse astrological year 2014 is on 04-Feb-2014.
However, the time of the Start of Spring in US Eastern Standard time is at Feb-03 17:04. The Start of Spring time in US Pacific Standard time is at Feb-03 14:04. So the first day of the Green Horse astrological year 2014 is on 03-Feb-2014 in US time zones.
The Chinese New Year Day of 2014 is on January 31, 2014. It's 4 days before the first day of the astrology calendar in 2014. There is a very common misconception that the astrology animal signs begin on the Chinese New Year day in many Internet sites. Actually, the Astrology animal signs begin from the Start of Spring, the first day of the astrological year. For example, if a baby was born one day after the Chinese New Year Day in 2014, then its animal sign is the Snake, not Horse, because the birthday is before the Start of Spring. If you are still confused about your animal sign, we have an Animal Sign page for people to verify their Chinese birth year animal signs.
2014 Chinese Horoscope Forecast
To forecast our luck in the coming years, we first have to know what elements and animals are in our Birth Chart from Find Your Lucky Element page.
2014 is the year of Male Wood Horse. Horse mainly contains Fire. Therefore, the Wood and Fire are the key factors to determine people's fortune in 2014.
Wood can help Fire to burn. So Fire of 2014 is quite strong. Fire could melt the Metal. Metal is afraid of Fire. If your Lucky Element is Metal, then you might encounter some unexpected troubles and you need to handle alone without help in 2014. Fire and Water are opposite elements, If your Lucky Element is Water, then your luck won't be better than 2013, Water Snake year. If your Lucky Element is Fire, then the fortune is coming toward you. You need to prepare for it and don't miss the golden opportunity in the Green Horse year.
Horse is a speedy animal. When something good or bad happens, it will come very quickly. It's same to the love relationship. Horse is a Romantic Star to many people. If you are single, you can increase your social activities. Horse will keep you busy and help you to find a great friendship. If you are in love, then it's good time to build deeper relationship.
Spring is the season of Wood. If your Lucky Element is Wood, then you will do well in the beginning of the Horse Year. Wood will help Fire to bring up the heat. Summer is the season of Fire. If Fire is your Lucky Element. summer will be your best months of the year. You can ride on the horseback and head for your goal. You will see you destination and enjoy your result in the fall. If your Lucky Element is Metal, then we have to wait for the heat of Fire cooling down to see your luck, If Lucky Element is Water, then you have to wait till the Winter time when the temperature turns cold.
using in the astrology calendar means noon, not horse. The traditional Chinese character of the horse is Ma 
. There is no good explanation for why ancient Chinese selected Horse as the nickname of Wu.
The invention of Chinese Horse character is quite interesting. The detail about
horse Chinese characters