Get up and Goat!

Fortune tellers and tikoy makers are working overtime these days as the country prepares to usher in the lunar new year tomorrow, the 4,700th year in the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Goat (or Sheep) under the Water element.

Celebrated in China as the Spring Festival (Xin Chun or, literally, New Spring) to mark the beginning of spring after a long, harsh winter, the holiday is characterized by feasting and a gathering of the family around the household hearth.

Dinner tables will be set to overflowing tonight, as tradition dictates that there must be plenty of leftover food to ensure that there will be enough to eat in the coming year.

Tikoy, a sweet rice cake, is the centerpiece of the celebration because, in addition to its sweetness, its stickiness symbolizes family unity and togetherness. Traditionally made with white or brown sugar, contemporary innovations include ube and pandan flavored tikoy.

Small oranges called kiat and their larger cousin the ponkam are also popular features of the celebration because of their color (reddish orange), sweetness and shape (round).

To prepare for this auspicious holiday, people usually get a haircut and a new set of clothes. While the superstitious may think of driving away evil spirits, firecrackers are lit to add to the atmosphere of fun and celebration.

The entire new year celebration can run from three days to a whole week. Children eager for hong pao or gifts of money put in red envelopes can still get these from their elders up to the 15th day of the new year, when special rice cakes or tzong-ze are served to bring the celebration to a close.

Practically everyone, Chinese or not, now knows under which of the 12 animal signs one is born, as well as the governing element (water, wood, fire, earth or metal). The legend too of the Lord Buddha calling the animals to his deathbed is now familiar lore: 12 animals answered the call, and the years were named after them in the order of their arrival, starting with the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat (or Ram or Sheep), Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar (Pig).

But what is perhaps not as well known is that it was the Chinese Emperor Huang Ti who, in 2637 BC, introduced the use of a calendar based on the cycles of the moon. Under this system, each month is made up of the four phases of the moon, beginning with the new moon; 12 months make up a year and 12 years make up a cycle. In relation to the Gregorian calendar, the lunar year is flexible: This Year of the Goat begins tomorrow and ends on January 21, 2004.

Because of the belief that a person born in a certain year is imbued with characteristics of that animal, the system has engendered practices of charting compatibility, especially in marriage and business, as well as fortune telling.

Because the Sheep or Goat is gentle and compassionate, and the Water element smooth and flowing, the year is expected to be calmer and more peaceful, US President George W. Bush’s war cries notwithstanding.

Goat people are most compatible with Rabbits in both business and personal relationships, while there may be serious communication as well as trust problems with Rat and Ox people.

While celebrating the lunar new year is no longer confined to the Chinese-Filipino or Tsinoy community, Binondo is still the center of festivities. A parade organized by the Chinatown Development Authority will be held on Ongpin Street this afternoon at 4 p.m., which will include the requisite lion and dragon dances.

At 6 p.m., a cultural program of songs, dances and acrobatics featuring the 110-member Jiangsu Overseas Troupe of Artists will be held at the plaza in front of the Binondo Church, sponsored by the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The same group will perform tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Baluarte de Sta. Isabel in Intramuros.

The Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, an organization of young Tsinoys, will start the month-long Fiesta Tsinoy with a program and exhibit opening at the Kaisa Heritage Center in Intramuros.