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Goldfish Diary
2003/1
Goldfish Culture - The Lunar Goldfish
In this issue, we feature the popularity of the
goldfish as an auspicious fish in the Lunar New Year.
The
cool morning breeze conveys the arrival of Spring, the season of
harvest and celebration! What better way to start our first
diary of the year with a write-up about the goldfish and the
Lunar New Year?
For a race that has been plagiarized by natural catastrophes,
wars and poverty for more than 5000 years, it is only natural
that the goldfish, a symbol of peace, harmony and prosperity
forms an important and integral part of the Chinese culture.
From
embroideries, paintings, china, postcards, handicrafts, lanterns
and sculptures, the goldfish is one of the favorite subjects for
ancient and contemporary artisans alike. The Chinese regard
the goldfish as a “New Year Fish". Traditional Chinese
families acquired big and red goldfish during the Lunar New Year as they would acquire beautiful potted plants to
grace the festive atmosphere. Many goldfish dealers in
Singapore
increase their
import of goldfish just before the Lunar New Year to
meet the great demand. |
A Lunar New Year
goldfish postcard |
Goldfish scroll
for prosperity |
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Apart
from being enchanted by the beauty of the goldfish. The
Chinese pronunciation of the goldfish sounds like
“Abundance of Gold”. There were also much folklore and
“Feng Shui” (geomancy) beliefs that keeping goldfish
could wade off back luck and improve the well-being of
their owners. The “Feng Shui” practitioners are
particular about the placement of the goldfish tank and
the number of goldfish kept. For instance, it is
considered good luck to keep 9 goldfish (as shown in the
postcard and scroll in this article). Some people keep 8 red goldfish and a black goldfish to counter evil forces (for
fanatics like us, the more goldfish the merrier!). |
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" Hei
Mu Dan" |
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"Jin
Yin Yan" |
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"Ying Yang
Qiu" |
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"Ti Bao Jin" |
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"Hong Yun Dan Tou" |
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"Bian Di Jin" |
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Although
the red and gold are the most auspicious colors in the Lunar
New Year, goldfish varieties of other colors are also very
popular. The Chinese love to coin interesting and auspicious
names for the goldfish. For example, the Red-Cap Oranda is
known as “Hong Yun Dan Tou” (Tremendous Luck before one’s
path); the cute Classical Chinese Lionhead is known as “Shou
Xing Gong” (the God of Longevity). The black and
lower half bodied red goldfish are known as “Ti Bao Jin”
(Metal Covering Gold) and the “silver eye socket" red fish are
known as “Jin Yin Yan” (Gold and Silvery eyes); the Short
tail Ryukins are known as “Bian Di Jin” (Floor full of
Gold); the Black Moor is adorably known as the “Hei Mu Dan”
(Black Peony); a Pompon goldfish with one red and one white
velvety balls is known as "Ying Yang Qiu" (Male and
Female Ball) and the list goes on... |
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Goldfish
handicrafts |
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The
goldfish hobby has transcended into the lives of people from
different countries, background and cultures. Since the
launch of this website, we have made many friends both
locally and from Australia, Canada,
Egypt,
USA,
Hong Kong,
Indonesia, India,
Malaysia,
New Zealand,
Thailand,
etc. The
goldfish is indeed, an emblem of friendship. |
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"Shou Xing
Gong" |
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Goldfish
Lanterns |
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We would
like to take this opportunity to wish all a very happy,
healthy and prosperous Lunar New Year. May the world gain
more peace, harmony and prosperity from now on - for goldfish’s sake! |
We welcome you to send your
comments to
GreenNgoldSG@yahoo.com
or sign on our
Guest Book.
To see other
articles in our goldfish diary, let's go back to our
diary home page.
29 January 2003 |
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