Inclusive Design for the 2023 Lunar New Year

In order to ring in the new year and get ready for spring, Sino cultures celebrate the Lunar New Year with a number of customs that are common to all of them. These customs include decorating with red and gold, setting off fireworks to ward off evil spirits, giving red envelopes filled with "lucky money," and deep cleaning their homes to get rid of bad luck.

Also related with the Lunar New Year is the 12-animal "Chinese Zodiac," where each year signifies the change from one animal to the next. Some people will commemorate. The Year of the Rabbit in 2023. However, our Vietnamese friends will welcome the upcoming Lunar New Year with a different canine companion. They observe the Year of the Cat every twelve years, beginning in 2023.

Learning about the Cat nuance

I am a devoted patron of Academic Coffee, a little coffee business in San Jose, California. It provides the finest coffee brew, freshly roasted beans, and baked pastries in my hometown.

I've gotten close to Frank Nguyen, the Vietnamese-American owner of Academic Coffee, after visiting their excellent shop on a regular basis for years. Additionally, I've volunteered part of my design work over the past two years to assist Frank in updating his brand through illustration, identity, and packaging design. It has always been a pleasure to work with Frank, a former marketing expert with a taste for fine art and coffee. Also noteworthy is the fact that Frank and his crew have promoted sustainability since since Academic Coffee launched in 2017 by making sure all of their goods are recyclable, compostable, or both. All excellent reasons to get to know this neighbourhood businessman.

So, during the holiday break, when I had some free time, I contacted Frank with the suggestion that I design "Year of the Rabbit" stickers and gift card envelopes for his cafe's Lunar New Year celebration. Something in the effervescent and jovial tone we've used on the can beverage labels for Academic.

He responded with a letter from Vietnam, where he was spending the holidays with family. He quickly and kindly informed me of my design error. Frank penned:

In my Vietnamese culture, we celebrate the Cat zodiac, not the Rabbit, every twelve years. Additionally, because San Jose is home to a sizable Vietnamese Asian population, the Cat zodiac will be included in most festivals nearby.

San Francisco, on the other hand, will observe the Year of the Rabbit because other Sino civilizations more frequently include a rabbit in their mythology.

I was therefore pleased to begin creating a fresh Cat zodiac image for Academic Coffee's Lunar New Year celebration after being prodded.

A Lunar New Year primer

The Lunar New Year, sometimes known as "Chinese New Year," is observed by numerous East Asian civilizations, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mongolian. A new year on the lunar calendar, which is based on the moon's monthly cycles or lunar months, is marked by the Spring Festival, also known as the start of the growing season for agriculture. Since there are approximately 29.5 days in each lunar month, there is no set date for the Lunar New Year each year. The Lunar New Year will be observed on Sunday, January 22, 2023, but it typically occurs in January or February.

Each year, there are 12 zodiac signs that are symbolised by animals related to the 12 lunar cycles. Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig are offered to us in that order.

So why the Cat instead of the Rabbit?

This can just be a case of things getting lost in translation, according to a common explanation. , pronounced "mao," is an archaic Chinese name used to refer to the rabbit in ancient Chinese culture. Translated as "the fourth of twelve earthly branches," a rabbit is the lunar zodiac animal associated with this term. This pronunciation of "mao" is similar to the Vietnamese term for cat, "mèo" or "con mèo." Additionally, it sounds a lot like the contemporary Chinese character for cat,, pronounced "mo." So, I think it's possible that researchers in other parts of the Sinosphere, like Vietnam, may have heard the word "Mao," which stands in for the fourth zodiac, and translated it to mean "cat."