KEY POINTS:
The Business of fortune-telling always booms at this time of year. Whether it's tradition, superstition, or curiosity, in the week before Chinese New Year many people want to find out what the year holds for them.
I still remember an aunt taking me to have my fortune told in the week leading up to Chinese New Year, on January 29, at Singapore's Chinatown.
The blind fortune-teller had no table, just two low stools and a straw mat on the pavement. We had to wait what seemed like hours for our turn. He touched my face and palm as I squatted beside him, and after giving him details such as my Chinese name, birthdate and time of birth, he told my fortune. I didn't have a clue what he was rattling on about to my aunt, as they were speaking in the Hokkien dialect.
As a young boy, all I wanted was to get the session over and done with so I could get the promised ice-block treat,
Then I saw my aunt's face change. The Year of the Tiger was not going to be a good one for me and we had to rush to the temple to perform some rituals to change my destiny. At the temple I drank water from a cup containing burnt joss paper and recited some chants.
I could see the relief in my aunt's face when the temple medium said, "The Tiger will not bite him now, he will have a good year."
In all honesty, I doubt that those simple symbolic acts had the power to affect destiny - or that inanimate things can affect matters like life and death. But that is not how millions in the world will see things this week.
As Chinese New Year - the Year of the Pig - approaches people like my aunt and mother will continue to seek their fortunes for the coming year and observe a strict code on what they can and cannot do.
Families will spare no effort to come together on the eve of the New Year for reunion dinners so that they can continue being united and strong.
They will not sweep the house on New Year's Day because it could mean sweeping away luck and fortune. They will not argue or use bad language and will refrain from physical violence because it would mean a year of hardship. Using anything sharp, such as knives, is also out because it would cut away good fortune.
I am a sceptic about such claims but that is not to say I do not follow the customs. On the contrary, I'm a fervent observer of the traditions and taboos that comes with Chinese New Year.
I guess the years of living with a mother who is an ardent follower of tradition has made it not only a habit but has instilled in me the thought: "What if mum was right?"
I am not ready to find out or want a whole year of bad luck.
I think that most of these beliefs came into being because of Chinese practicality. Some old Chinese sage must have realised how stressful the festive time could be for families - just as Christmas can be for New Zealanders - and invented some of these do's and don'ts, adding a touch of superstition to make sure they were followed.
No arguments, bad language, or physical violence. Imagine, if Christmas had the same rules, how much less work there would be for police and community workers over Christmas.
What amazes me is that even with the huge advancement in education, millions still hold Chinese New Year superstitions to be true, even in New Zealand.
And I'm amazed at how many people still believe in the 5000-year-old Chinese system of astrology, which states that your personality and destiny are shaped by the year you were born.
A Malaysian Chinese friend told me the reason he looked forward to attending his Malaysia Club's Chinese New Year dinner was not for the food but to listen to New Year predictions by a Feng Shui expert.
A tarot-card reader told me that she has more clients, Chinese and non-Chinese, at Chinese New Year.
Legend says that a long time ago the Jade Emperor called on all Earth's creatures to enter a race and that the first 12 to finish would have a year named after them. The zodiac system operates on a 12-year cycle and my birth year of 1968 makes me a Monkey.
There are no blind Chinese fortune-tellers in Auckland, so to find out what the New Year holds for me I turn to the internet.
Wikipedia says that people born in the Year of the Monkey are creative geniuses behind anything ingenious, including mischief. A Monkey person also has an agile mind, multiple talents, flexible principles and serene self-confidence.
On the negative side, some of what I do can make me appear to be vain or manipulative. My wife insists that the description fits me exactly, but I beg to differ.
Still, it brings a big smile when I read that the Year of the Pig will be a good one for me, and that I find true mates in those born in the years of the Snake, Rabbit and Goat. I'd be the perfect husband for Angelina Jolie (Rabbit), Elizabeth Hurley (Snake) and Zhang Ziyi (Goat).
