猪年 - Zhū Nián - (Year of the Pig)

This post is in red because there's an awful lot of red around at this time of year, especially in suburbs blessed with a large Chinese presence.

It's about to be Chinese (Lunar) New Year again, and this year will be the Year of the Pig. Not just any pig, but the golden pig, the one that comes only once every 60 years. Babies born this year will grow up to be extremely prosperous.

I went along to Chatswood to get a feel for it all.

There were lots of pigs around, red ones and gold ones, and there was an excellent little concert going on, with music and displays of traditional dancing.

Every shop in the Westfield Shopping Centre was taking part in a well-coordinated New Year's discount campaign. I noticed this shoe shop was offering 88% off any shoe purchase. I think that may be something to do with it's bad luck to buy shoes during this period (but if you do, 8 is always lucky, and 88 more so).

You also need to wear red undies (I bought mine today), and you mustn't wear black or white (the colours of death). It's a difficult time if you're superstitious. Here's a guide, courtesy the Sydney Morning Herald: SMH Chinese NY guide
 

We're invited to a New Year's party next weekend, so we're researching all this carefully. The shopping centre had lots of helpful tips in this informative zodiac-specific display. After all these years on the planet, I learnt what my lucky colours are: blue, grey, and orange. I went off and bought myself an orange shirt straight away.