Happy Lunar New Year! 🎉

Happy Lunar New Year! 2023, is the year of the Rabbit  (Chinese) and year of the Cat (Vietnam). Across Vietnam the streets are decked out with statues of cats, and shops are stocked full of cat-themed decorations, which are popularly gifted during Vietnamese New Year (Tet). 

While Vietnam and China share 10 of the zodiac calendar's 12 signs (rat, tiger, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig) the Vietnamese honour the cat instead of the rabbit and the buffalo instead of the ox. The reasoning behind this is not exact but some say it is due to "Rice being a huge part of Vietnam's agriculture, but with the threat of many rats in the fields, the cats (that hunt them) are a popular animal for the Vietnamese."