Year of the Cat: Vietnamese Canadians want their zodiac recognized this Lunar New Year

Vancouver mother Kim Phan Nguyễn-Stone said she was excited to mark the Lunar New Year with her family starting this Sunday, but was disappointed by the red-and-gold decorations lining the streets for the Year of the Rabbit.

“[This] it’s a very Chinese expression of the Chinese New Year,” he said. “Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, but there is no cat – it feels a little like we have forgotten.”

Nguyễn-Stone is one of many Vietnamese Canadians who will celebrate the arrival of Chinese New Year (Year of the Cat), but feel that the Lunar New Year celebration does not extend beyond the Vietnamese calendar.

Like the Chinese, the Vietnamese lunar calendar runs on a 12-year cycle, each year corresponding to a zodiac animal.

But the two cultures have developed slightly different astrological signs. While the Chinese have the cow as the second sign and the rabbit as the fourth sign, the Vietnamese have the buffalo and the cat.

There are many folk theories as to why the Vietnamese calendar has cats instead of rabbits. According to a University of Tennessee religious studies professor Megan Brysonone explanation is the Chinese astrological term for rabbit, mǎo (卯), has been misinterpreted as cat (“cat” in Vietnamese) when the ancient Vietnamese adapted the Chinese zodiac.

The latest census data shows that the number of people of Vietnamese descent increased by 14.5 per cent in Canada from 2016 to 2021, a higher rate than people identifying their ethnic origin as Chinese (-3 per cent) or Korean (9.8 per cent). apart. Asian societies celebrate the Year of the Rabbit.

But the growth in the population of Vietnam has not translated into more recognition. In recent weeks, hundreds of Vietnamese people in Canada, the US and elsewhere have taken to social media — such as Subtle Viet Traits, a Facebook group subscribed to by more than 110,000 members — to vent their frustration at the wider community’s refusal. acknowledging the Year of the Cat.

Group member and Victorian resident James Le (Lê Đức), who was born in the Year of the Cat like his parents, says the zodiac animal is an important part of his identity and he hopes others will respect it.

“[If other people] looking at the usual Western zodiac signs, you can imagine that you think of yourself as, say, Capricorn, but then you see some other names, it throws you off a little bit,” he said.

Le said he hopes public organizations and private companies can respect Vietnamese culture in the future.

WATCH︱James Le marks the Year of the Cat with his mom’s gift, a cat figurine:

But business professor Wootae Chun of the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, who specializes in cross-cultural marketing, said that to do this, Vietnamese community associations in Canada must actively promote the culture to decision-makers in private and public. sector through better social media strategies.

“If you make them feel the importance of cultural differences [between] The New Year of the Cat and the Rabbit, they will try to apply these cultural meanings in their decision-making process,” Chun said.

Nguyễn-Stone said as a second-generation Canadian citizen with limited Vietnamese language skills, she is doing her part to pass on her Vietnamese heritage, teaching whatever she knows about the culture to her three children.

“If I don’t do that, they won’t learn as much as they can.”