The Year of the Cat...

With the recent passing of the Lunar New Year, I wondered why I saw "Year of the Rabbit" as well as "Year of the Cat". When I read Wandering Chopstick's post on the New Year, I didn't realize that the Vietnamese zodiac differered from the Chinese. I thought that was pretty cool. The "cat" replaces the "rabbit" in the Vietnamese calendar. I know that there's an Al Stewart song, "The Year of the Cat" from the 1976 album of the same name.

That song always annoyed me. But that's the song!

Above is the cat glass figurine from our Vietnamese zodiac animals. They are situated above our TV. This was a gift from Superman's wife, who is Vietnamese. They had a set in their house that I admired so she gave one set to us several years ago. I always assumed the animals were the same as the Chinese zodiac. After reading WC's post, I looked again and sure enough, no rabbit, but a cat! 

The glass animals are very delicate. Already, the dragon's left whisker has broken off and has been glued twice. The rooster also had a broken piece that Bert fixed. My favorite looking ones are the horse and monkey.

The animals behind the cat are NOT in order.

Here are the Vietnamese zodiac animals in order:

Rat
Water Buffalo (instead of "ox" used in the Chinese zodiac)
Tiger
Cat (instead of "rabbit")
Dragon (TC's year!)
Snake
Horse
Sheep
Monkey
Rooster (my year!)
Dog
Pig

Here are a few recent articles about the Year of the Cat:

A Purr-fect New Year, Vietnam fetes the Year of the Cat" (Reuters)
Year of the Rabbit or Year of the Cat? (Discovery News)
and Ringing in the Year of the Rabbit and the Cat" (LA Times)