History Archives - Page 11 of 11

*The Dendera Zodiac chart, one of the oldest surviving zodiac star charts*

In Western astrology (derived from early Babylonian star charts), your birth sign depends on when during the calendar year you were born. I happen to be an Aries. But the Chinese sign of the zodiac under which one is born depends upon the birth year (based on the Chinese lunar year). I happen to have been born under the sign of the Rooster. Many people in the US—most?—are more or less aware of such things.

Similarly, awareness that 2020 is a Rat year is relatively widespread. (Rat is often translated as Mouse in some countries, like Vietnam.) But not so many people are aware that Rat years aren’t all alike: 2020 is the year of the Metal Rat. Say what?! There is a Rat year every 12 years, but a Metal Rat year cycles every 60 years.

This is because the Chinese Five Elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth) also cycle in order, so the alignment repeats every 60 years. The basic theory is that the zodiac sign characteristics are affected by/ interact with the elements. The Five Elements are used in Chinese medicine, philosophy, fengshui, fortune-telling, and martial arts.

Because they are less familiar to most Westerners, I’ll start with the qualities of the five elements:

Wood-benevolence,
Fire-propriety,
Metal-righteousness,
Water-wisdom,
Earth-fidelity/honesty.

Traditionally, Metal is either silver or gold. In the West, people consider a gold year to come every 60 years. According the Chinese fortune-tellers, it’s once every 600.

The Chinese Five Elements are a bit like scissors/ paper/ rock in that no one element is always the strongest. In the controlling/ overcoming/ destruction/ restraining/ weakening interactions: Fire melts Metal, Metal chops Wood, Wood breaks up Earth, Earth absorbs Water, Water quenches Fire.

In the generating/ begetting/ engendering/ mothering/ enhancing interactions: Metal carries Water, Water nourishes Wood, Wood feeds Fire, Fire creates Earth/ash, Earth bears Metal.

How do the elements and signs of the zodiac interact? Each Chinese Zodiac Sign has a fixed element. This is the element that carries over from year to year. For the Rat, the fixed element is Water—and wisdom fits very well with the overall characteristics of Rats.

How do we get a metal rat? This year aligns a Metal year and a Rat year. A person’s characteristics are said to be determined both by the fixed element of their zodiac sign and the element of the year they were born in. Children born this year are supposed to have characteristics of Rats, Water, and Metal.

Characteristics of Rats – People born in the year of the Rat like saving and collecting. They are organized and financially secure. They tend to be parsimonious in terms of gift-giving. Rats don’t seek praise and recognition. They are sensitive, aware when there is trouble. When Rats take risks, they usually succeed. Add wisdom and, in 2020, righteousness.

Writers take note: consider drawing on the Chinese Zodiac and the related elements when characterizing your character. The traits often seem to be compatible.

How did the zodiac order come to be? In Western astrology, the astrological signs are based on constellations of stars that typically light the night sky during that month. They are ordered by the calendar year.

How did the Chinese zodiac years come to be Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig in that order? According to chinahighlights.com, the story of the Chinese zodiac is much more entertaining. I’ll quote it here.

The Heavenly Gate Race Story — Reasons for Zodiac Rankings

Long, long ago, there was no Chinese zodiac. The Jade Emperor wanted to select 12 animals to be his guards. He sent an immortal being into man’s world to spread the message that the earlier one went through the Heavenly Gate, the better the rank one would have.

Early Risers: Quick-Witted Rat and Diligent Ox

Rat ranks first.

The next day, animals set off towards the Heavenly Gate. Rat got up very early. On his way to the gate, he encountered a river. He had to stop there, owing to the swift current. After waiting a long time, Rat noticed Ox about to cross the river and swiftly jumped into Ox’s ear.

The diligent Ox did not mind at all and simply continued. After crossing the river, he raced towards the palace of the Jade Emperor. Suddenly, Rat jumped out of Ox’s ear and dashed to the feet of the Emperor. Rat won first place and Ox was second.

Competitive and Fast: Tiger and Rabbit

Tiger and Rabbit came third and fourth because both are fast and competitive, but Tiger was faster. (Rabbit got across the river by hopping on stepping stones and a floating log.)

Good-Looking Dragon and Crafty Snake

Good-looking Dragon was fifth and was immediately noticed by the Jade Emperor, who said Dragon’s son could be sixth. But Dragon’s son didn’t come with him that day. Just then, Snake came forward and said Dragon was his adoptive father; so Snake ranked sixth.

Kind and Modest Horse and Goat

Horse and Goat arrived. They were very kind and modest and each let the other go first. The Jade Emperor saw how polite they were and ranked them seventh and eighth.

Jumping Monkey

Monkey had fallen well behind. But he jumped between trees and stones, and caught up to be ninth. Last were Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

These 12 animals became guards of the Heavenly Gate.

Why No Cat? — Enmity Between Cat and Rat

Although Cat and Rat were neighbors, the former always bullied the latter, and Rat felt very angry but dared not say it out loud; therefore, he sought revenge on Cat.

Upon hearing the Emperor’s decree Rat chuckled to himself and thought: “This is an opportunity”.

The sleepyhead Cat kicked open Rat’s door, ordering Rat to keep him informed of when he was going to the Emperor’s birthday party, and Rat readily promised that he would.

On the morning, however, Rat left quietly without informing Cat. Cat didn’t wake up until the race was over and it was too late — he was not able to make it into the cycle.

After the party, a great enmity grew between Cat and Rat, so that rats scatter in all directions when a cat appears.

An alternative version of the story says that Cat and Rat got as far as crossing the river together on Ox’s head, but Rat pushed Cat into the water (and Cat was washed away and drowned or didn’t get back to the Heavenly Gate in time to get a ranking).

People’s Personal Traits

The ranking story above is made up according to people’s understanding of characteristics of the 12 animals. And when people talk about a person’s zodiac sign, they might think about the zodiac sign’s characteristics.

For example, when talking about Rats, people think of quick-witted, resourceful, and versatile people. Oxen are decisive, honest, dependable, and hardworking. There is a wealth of information available online about every aspect of life suggested for each sign, including careers, colors, numbers, flowers, education, and just about anything else a writer might use.

People born under certain zodiac animal signs are also assumed to have varying levels of compatibility with other signs. This goes beyond simple romantic relationships; like the balance of the five elements, each animal offers something different to each other animal. A friend of mine had a daughter in the year of the Fire Monkey and insisted that her sister-in-law (an Earth Rat) was the first person to hold the baby. Rats provide wisdom and guidance to Monkeys, tempering some of their more negative qualities.

How to Behave During Chinese New Year

According to chinesenewyear.net, there is a whole raft of taboo behaviors during this time. The majority of these taboos stem from an overall belief that the year will continue as started – whatever you are doing at the beginning of the year, you will be doing the whole year long. In 2020, Chinese New Year falls on January 25th and the festival will last till February 8th, about 15 days. Good luck observing all of these taboos for two weeks!

Do not say negative words.
Do not break ceramics or glass.
Do not clean or sweep.
Do not use scissors, knives or other sharp objects.
Do not demand debt repayment.
Avoid fighting and crying.
Avoid taking medicine, visiting the doctor, perform/undergo surgery, get shots.
Do not give New Year blessings to someone still in bed.

Writers note: Breaking these taboos could be a source of tension between characters. The lengths a character goes to in order to avoid these taboos could make for interesting tension.

Red is considered a lucky color almost everywhere Chinese New Year is celebrated, especially red envelopes. Adults hand out lucky money to children (and sometimes elders) in special red envelopes. Crisp, clean, new bills straight from the bank are preferred, always in an odd number. In America, $2 bills are especially prized!

Because of the Chinese diaspora, the Lunar New Year is celebrated in many countries with large populations of people with Chinese heritage (including America!) Many of these countries have their own traditions and taboos while celebrating. Here are a few examples of different customs:

Vietnam – Tết Nguyên Đán
- Celebrations follow the same lunar calendar used for Chinese New Year but usually only last for three days.
- Family is a primary focus of celebrations, including offerings to ancestors, visiting elders and other family members. and tending to family graves. The first day of festivities is usually reserved for family gatherings.
- Lion dances, setting off fireworks, displays of symbolic fruits and flowers, and “Chinese Markets” are common public forms of celebrating.

Mongolia – ᠴᠠᠭᠠᠨ ᠰᠠᠷᠠ (Tsagaan Sar)
- Specific methods of celebrating vary widely among regions
- White is a very lucky color at this time (Tsagaan Sar literally translates as “white moon”): people ride white horses, exchange white gifts, and eat white foods made from dairy
- Honoring elders and making sincere reconciliations with anyone wronged figure prominently in every community
- Piles of food!

Korea – 설날 (Seollal)
- Family is the main focus of most celebrations
- Because so many Koreans travel home to be with family on Seollal, airports, train stations, etc. are extremely busy
- Before they can receive their red envelopes with lucky money, children must perform a full traditional Korean bow to their elders
- Korean festivities are much quieter than many other countries celebrating the Lunar New Year, centered around family

Tibetan Buddhism – ལོ་གསར་ (Losar)
Losar celebrations vary according to regional differences in Buddhist practices
The holiday is often celebrated with prayer and temple visits
Decorations incorporate Buddhist signs, such as the Eight Auspicious Symbols marked on walls
The first three days of Losar focus on specific devotions: Lama Losar – dharma teachers and gurus; Kings Losar – community and national leaders, the Dalai Lama offers greetings and blessings to other national leaders; Choe-kyong Losar – gods and divine protectors
Less formal festivities often continue until Chunga Choepa, the Butter Lamp Festival, 15 days after Choe-kyong Losar

In his introduction to 1920: The Year That Made the Decade Roar, Eric Burns wrote, “But although the year that is the subject of this book was a preview of a decade, it turned out to be more than that: it would be a preview of the entire century and even the beginning of the century to follow. . .” This blog entry focuses on this amazing year!

The Nineteenth Amendment [finally] passed, granting 26 million American women the right to vote in time for 1920 US presidential election. It was a near thing. The Tennessee House of Representatives voted in favor of the amendment 50/49.

Approximately 1,000 years since the formalization of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy guaranteed women equal political voice in the Onondaga, Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Tuscarora, and Cayuga nations around the Great Lakes region
365 years after the first American woman insisted on voting in the New World and being told she was not entitled
282 years after Margaret Brent, a successful Virginia businesswoman, demanded the right to vote in the state’s House of Burgesses in 1638 and was denied
144 years after Abigail Adams urged her husband to “remember the ladies” in the new constitution
51 years after the Territory of Wyoming officially gave women the right to vote

94 years before women were able to vote for a women for president on a major party ticket
*All of these ladies were born before the 19 Amendment passed and are shown here voting for a female president for the first time.*

Other than 1791 (when the Bill of Rights was ratified), 1920 was the only year in which the Constitution was amended more than once. The Eighteenth Amendment (ratified in 1919 and put into action in 1920) prohibited alcohol in the United States. Dare I say the Nineteenth was the more successful amendment? The Eighteenth was subsequently revoked by the the Twenty-First Amendment.

The Volstead Act at work:
The alligators in the New York City sewers were very happy that day!

Prohibition forced California vineyard owners to diversify production, to market table grapes, and to improve raisin production methods.
- The raisins would be marketed under the Sunmaid label.
- These raisins were very talented, recording several jazz albums, starring in a TV show, and creating their own video game. I think they also fought crime.
Sales of coffee, soft drinks, and cream sodas boomed.
Many hotels converted their bars to soda fountains and lunch counters.

The U.S. population reached 105.7 million. A third of all people lived on a farm, but for the first time we had more urban dwellers that rural dwellers (54 million to 51.5 million).

1920 saw the beginnings of many major brand names: La Choy Food Products, Seabrook Farms, the Good Humor ice cream bar, Mint Products, Inc. was renamed Life Savers, Inc., Baby Ruth was trademarked, Oh Henry! Candy bar created.

The “Lost Generation” became a force in American literature. Among books published in 1920: Main Street, This Side of Paradise, Flappers and Philosophers. Also, F. Scott Fitzgerald introduced Scribner editor Maxwell Perkins to the short stories of Ernest Hemingway.

The biggest oil deposits in the world outside of Texas were discovered in Alaska.

*In a story too strange for fiction, Superman later played a vital role in diminishing the Klan’s influence.*

The Ku Klux Klan was revitalized in 1920. They terrorized the nation, in well-known ways. Decades later, President Johnson tasked J. Edgar Hoover with subduing the KKK. The FBI (as the former BOI was then known) won an enormous law enforcement victory—but it wasn’t eradicated.

*KDKA in Pittsburgh had approximately 1,000 listeners to their first broadcast.*

Mass media were born with the first commercially licensed radio station broadcasting live results of the presidential election.

*Arthur Perdue had rather questionable taste in accessories, a trait his son did not share.*

Perdue Farms was founded in Salisbury, MD. Former railroad worker Arthur Perdue, 34, paid $50 to buy 50 Legthorn chickens, built a backyard chicken coop, and produced table eggs. Most U.S. poultry specialized in eggs because chickens were a riskier proposition.

Perdue family note: Frank Perdue was born May 9. He grew up to attend college for two years and play semipro baseball briefly, but he ultimately went to work with his father.

The first terrorist attack ever in the U.S. The bomb was a horse-drawn wagon packed with 100 pounds of dynamite and 500 pounds of cast-iron sash-weights that acted like shrapnel. It was detonated by a timer at noon on the busiest corner on Wall Street. Thirty-eight people were killed outright, 57 people were hospitalized, some of whom later died. All told, more than 400 people were injured. Suspects included Russians, Italian anarchists, and the KKK.

“League of Nations: Capitalists of All Countries, Unite!”
The USSR was also not terribly keen to join the League of Nations.

John Reed, pro-Bolshevik author of Ten Days That Shook the World, died. He was and still is the only non-Russian buried inside the Kremlin walls.

The League of Nations was established. President Woodrow Wilson was a chief architect. Although his Fourteen Points became the framework for the League of Nations, the United States never joined. In 1920, Wilson was completely disabled, having suffered a blood clot while promoting U.S. joining.

The blood clot left Woodrow Wilson paralyzed, partially blind, and brain damaged. In 1920, First Lady Edith Bolling Wilson was the de-facto POTUS. She took over, controlled access to the president, and made policy decisions on his behalf. She held a pen in his hand to write his name. The French ambassador to the U.S. referred to her as Mme. President.

Overfishing of the Sacramento River forced the closing of San Francisco’s last salmon cannery. Cannery Row is now a tourist attraction. Steinbeck’s Cannery Row is a big seller in the shops there.

Charles Ponzi was arrested in 1920 and charged with 86 counts of mail fraud.

The world sugar price dropped from thirty cents a pound in August to eight cents in December. Milton Hershey lost $2.5 million in the collapse, as did other large sugar consumers. Pepsi-Cola headed toward bankruptcy when Caleb Bradburn lost $150,000. Chero-Colo (later known as RC Cola) ended the year with over $1 million in debts that hung over the company for years.

In 1920 the second and “most spectacular” of the notorious Palmer raids was carried out. All across the country, in one fell swoop, thousands of accused communists and anarchists were arrested. The raid was organized by J. Edgar Hoover, then head of the Bureau of Investigation’s General Intelligence Division. This began his political ascent.

California legislators enacted a new Alien Land Act to prevent Asians from renewing their leases on farmland.

Among the many parallels Burns highlights, he wrote, “…just as there were pleas to close the borders, so were there arguments to keep them open. The issue was an incendiary one…”

For more parallels between 1920 and 2020, check out this post from Cheapism. Automation of labor, marijuana legalization battles, forward strides in feminism, increasing income gaps… Many of the issues we see in today’s headlines are eerily similar to headlines from 1920.

BOTTOM LINE FOR WRITERS: consider a plot that has historical roots; consider a character whose family traditions, money, or values have deep historical roots. And stay curious!

Vivian Lawry

Writer

History

2020: YEAR OF THE METAL RAT