Wednesday 25 February 2015

Day 7 of Chinese New Year is Everyone's birthday

This morning, one of my friends from Hong Kong sent me an email to wish me happy birthday.  I emailed her back to tell her today is not my birthday.  Then, she emailed me back to tell me today is the 7th day of Chinese New Year and it is the "Birthday of Human" in Chinese legend.  So, today is my birthday and everyone's birthday.

The 7th Day of Chinese New Year in

2015 is Feb 25
2016 is Feb 14
2017 is Feb 3
2018 is Feb 22
2019 is Feb 11
2020 is Jan 31 

In Hong Kong the 7th day of Chinese New Year is called "jan 4 jat 2*" in Cantonese.  It means it is the birthday for everybody.  But why?

My friend emailed me a story.  According to a legend, a female god called "leoi 5 wo 1" or "neoi 5 wo 1" created different animals on different days from Chinese New Year Day.

Day 1 of Chinese New Year is "Birthday of Chicken"
Day 2 of Chinese New Year is "Birthday of Dog"
Day 3 of Chinese New Year is "Birthday of Pig"
Day 4 of Chinese New Year is "Birthday of Sheep"
Day 5 of Chinese New Year is "Birthday of Ox"
Day 6 of Chinese New Year is "Birthday of Horse"

On the seventh day after creating the world and various animals, the female god still felt lonely.  So, she created human.  Then, Day 7 of Chinese New Year became "Birthday of Human".

Hmmm, let's wish everyone a happy birthday!
Happy Birthday to me!  Happy Birthday to all of you! 


P.S.  This is a Cantonese lesson my friend emailed to me with her story.



means human

means day or sun




When these two words "jan 4" and "jat 6" combined to form a new term means "birthday of Human", the sound of "jat 6" changed to "jat 2".




People in Hong Kong are lazy to pronounce some words properly. Since this is a popular habit, it is acceptable to pronounce "neoi 5" as "leoi 5".



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