Chinese New Year Greetings from the Menagerie

From the menagerie you honour in your almanac come these few greetings from animal to man, heart to heart.

The first is for the constancy in your selection. You have added rat and snake though to you neither is salubrious. We wondered why elephant and rhino, both which you esteem, find no place in the line-up, and baffling still why Fish has no year, but others from our side do not complain.

May you have prosperity with a mind that is always even, unbiased and undiscriminating. When you open your houses to your guests, do so with an open heart, because no door is as wide as a heart that is open.

Do not hate, and if you do, leave our body parts out of it. Our heads, even without our bodies are not to be spat on or kicked in sport or in protest; these pleasures we do not share. We carry your burden, not your hate; we fill your belly, not your spleen.

Next, we wish your table be always laden with food. We will bear your plough to plant your staples, even be the stuff that is your food - but eat sparingly; not everything that lives has to be eaten. Spare for instance the tiger you honour with a place on your list from a place on your table - your menu to be exact. His parts that you eat, his paws, his balls and his penis are what keep his species growing. Eat well to preserve your tribes, not to destroy ours. Kill if you must, but be not cruel – butchered sharks threshing finless in coastal shallows is a curse to all your kind, not just to those who slurp the soup.

We honour you for the affection you show to dog and cat that you nurture, feed and cherish. These critters and others you keep in cage and tank are the captives of your love. May those sentiments you show to them be part of you for all lives that depend on you. We wish you prosperity and we wish it for all of you.

Our prosperity depends on you.