Like in the previous years, yesterday at the Tsutenkaku Tower from Osaka took place the 56th annual “zodiac sign replacement“, an event where the animals representing the Chinese zodiac signs of the old and new year play their part in a ceremony symbolizing the passing of responsibility.
During the last years the selection of animals was simple (from the Ox to the Tiger for 2010 and from the Tiger to the Rabbit in 2011), but 2012 is the Year of the Dragon… so the Year 2012 was represented yesterday by… the Seahorse, in Japanese タツノオトシゴ.
More specifically, for 2012 the associated animal is the Dragon, but the associated element is the Water, so even if the full explanation is a lot more complicated, the selection of the Seahorse makes sense for the Year of the Water Dragon…
Anyway, here’s the ceremony, equally as cute as those from the previous years:
The Year of the Dragon is traditionally associated with several countries: Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Iran, Italy, Japan, Micronesia, United Kingdom and Vietnam.
Also, according to Chinese astrology, the associated color for the water is black, so 2012 is the Year of the Black Water Dragon - and you probably noticed that the little seahorses are black… However, the seahorse is one of the animals that can change their color, so maybe that was just a coincidence… But talking about color, the Dragon is considered having a mysterious color, so it is considered unpredictable. Hence, according to the astrology, we may see something unexpected in 2012 - although we saw a lot of unexpected in 2011, too…
So, what the astrology tells us? That the next year will be… unpredictable. (^_^)
Let’s just hope it will be better that 2011!
