Couples in China are rushing to get married in the coming Lunar
Year of the Dog because it's considered to be an auspicious year
for weddings.
A community service center in Luyang District, Anhui Province,
has registered about 20 marriages a day since the beginning of the
year. An official from the center said that this is twice the daily
average of the previous 10 months.
And it seems that there will be more "dog days" for couples to
marry. In the Year of the Dog, which starts from January 29, the
lunar cycle will last 385 days until February 17, 2007 a phenomenon
that will occur only 12 times between 221 BC and 2100 AD. The last
time that the lunar year had 385 days was in 1944.
According to the lunar calendar, this Year of the Dog has 13
months. The extra month, called an intercalary month, is being
inserted between the seventh and eighth lunar months to put things
on par with the solar calendar since a lunar cycle lasts about 29.5
days.
The year also has two lichun, or beginnings of spring,
February 4, 2006 and 2007.
"People believe a year with two spring beginnings and an
intercalary month is a golden time to tie the knot," said Fei
Guangze, general manager of the Suren Wedding Service Co in
Hefei.
"As the Chinese proverb goes, double beginnings of spring and 13
months make a perfect year for weddings.
"We're already fully booked for February, March, May and
October," he said. "Some couples made reservations a year in
advance."
Many other cities have also reported soaring marriage
registrations.
This has to do also with the fact that people were waiting for
the inauspicious Year of the Rooster to pass. It was considered a
"widow year" because of the lack of any lichun.
"Although the belief is ridiculous, the fact that people try to
avoid it reflects a strong desire for a happy marriage," said Zhang
Youde, a sociologist at Shanghai
University.
A similar marriage rush was reported in January 2005, in the
last days of the Year of the Monkey before the Year of the Rooster
began on February 9.
Statistics show that about 10 million Chinese couples get
married each year.
(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2006)