The Chinese Year of the GoatHello, This is Natasha and this is a special story to celebrate 2015.As you may know, there are 12 animal signs in the Chinese calendar, and every year is named after one of those animals.We are just saying goodbye to the year of the horse, and on February the 4th we will start the year of the goat.In some parts of Asia this year is also known as the year of the sheep or ram.Bertie, who knows all sorts of things, tells me that it comes from the Chinese word yang which pretty much covers all the animals who have horns and like to munch grass.People who are born in the year of the goat are peace-loving, artistic, and nurturing.For instance, the Chinese city of Guangzhou used to be called Yangcheng-City of Goats.The story goes that thousands of years ago, there was a famine and people were going hungry.Five gods rode into Guangzhou on the backs of 5 rams.Each of the rams was carrying rice in its mouth, as a sign that the famine would soon end.A stone statue of the 5 rams commemorates this story.
