Wear white—not red—to attract love
Lucky zodiac signs in career, love, money and health are the Rooster, Snake, Rat and Horse, allies of the Ox
A bullish year amid a recession is the storyline for feng shui, globally and locally.
Despite heavy unemployment and growing underemployment, life goes on with business. The Metal Ox Year will be more of the same as 2020’s Metal Rat year, but with significantly remarkable improvements, as people, governments and private-sector businessmen adapt and adjust to learning curves of the pandemic.
Lucky Chinese zodiac signs in career, love, money and health are led by feng shui allies of the Ox sign. These are the Rooster, Snake, followed by the rebounding fates of both Rat and Horse personalities.
Average luck augurs for Rabbit, Dragon, Monkey, Tiger and Pig. Challenged health and fortunes heavily affect the opposing sign of Ox—the Sheep and fellow Ox. Equally affected with bad luck are Dog people.
However, proper feng shui of homes and business for all signs remains the key remedy to the challenges posed by the Metal Ox.
Wearing white can attract Mr. Right for single and single-again ladies of any age. Avoid red as it burns luck in love during a metal year.
Elementary feng shui cures based on your personal element are available for these purposes to alleviate bad health and finances.
Signs under metal, earth and water elements are lucky while fire and wood are not.
Philippine feng shui is dependent on the reading of the incumbent president’s Chinese zodiac sign, a Rooster, which is excellent in the Metal Ox year.
Hard work and focus on herd mentality or the basic family unit are natural traits of the Ox sign, marked by resilience and enduring survival.
Wearing white can attract Mr. Right for single and single-again ladies of any age
The author is a geomancer and feng shui expert
The Chinese New Year, a 15day festival that begins today, is among the widely celebrated annual events that had to be toned down amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also called the Lunar New Year because it follows the phases of the moon, the festival dates back to the 14th century B.C. when the Shang Dynasty ruled China. Gatherings and feasts marked the Chinese New Year, which also served as an occasion to give reverence to deities and ancestors.
It lost its religious value, however, when the Chinese government led by Mao Zedong banned in 1949 the observance of the traditional Chinese New Year and settled with the Western celebration of the new year based on the Gregorian calendar, which is fixed on Jan. 1. This official shift of new year revelries was made more than 300 years after the Jesuit missionaries introduced the Gregorian calendar to the Chinese in 1582.
In 1996 however, the Spring Festival, used interchangeably to refer to Chinese New Year, was established as a holiday to give the Chinese a week off to celebrate the occasion and be with their families.
Embracing Chinese customs
In the Philippines, the festival is also largely anticipated not only because of the presence of large Chinese-Filipino communities, but because Filipinos have also embraced certain Chinese beliefs and customs.
Weeklong activities for the Chinese New Year start and end in the district of Binondo, considered the world’s oldest Chinatown. The old district of Manila, founded in 1594 as a Spanish settlement for Catholic Chinese, is the ground zero for Chinese festivities.
Before the pandemic restricted movements, the streets of Binondo were busy with people consulting with feng shui experts and shopping for cures, charms and other trinkets meant to usher in luck and prosperity in their homes and workspaces. There were also concerts, street parties and a dragon dance in the hours leading to the Chinese New Year. The celebrations then would culminate with the so-called Lantern Festival, wherein people carry or display lanterns during the nighttime parade.
Those who chose to stay in their homes made sure that tikoy or glutinous rice cakes, and other Chinese dishes were served. Family members also dressed up in red to draw more luck.
Regulated festivities
For this year’s celebrations, the local governments of Manila, San Juan and Cebu have ordered the regulation of Chinese New Year activities. No party, show or parade were allowed in Manila and Cebu, while events in both public and private places were limited to only 10 people in San Juan.
Feb. 12 was declared a special nonworking day by President Duterte, but huge mass gatherings are still prohibited so Chinese communities, organizations, and businesses are holding mostly online events. The Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry had said that it would just go digital with its celebrations.
Meanwhile, Chinoy TV, a multiplatform media company that caters to Chinese-Filipino audiences, had announced some activities to look forward to, including a TV special, an online lecture and feng shui consultation. Other events such as food fairs are being held in malls.