Today is the holiday that in mainland China is known as Chunjie ("Spring Festival"), in Taiwan as Guonian ("passing the year"), and, generally, in English-speaking countries, as Chinese New Year--the first day of the first month in the lunar calendar traditionally used in China. As I suspect many of my readers know, each Chinese New Year is associated with one of the twelve animals in the so-called Chinese zodiac. This year is Zhunian--the Year of the Pig. However, in some places you might see Zhunian translated as "the Year of the Boar." I suspect that the latter translation is favored because "boar" somehow sounds better than "pig"! However, the Chinese word for "boar" (in the Mandarin dialect, at least), is actually gongzhu, meaning, literally "male pig." Nevertheless, at least one possible meaning of the English word boar is "an uncastrated, domesticated male pig," so I suppose "Year of the Boar" isn't totally off the mark.
Pigs have traditionally played an important place in Chinese culture, or--perhaps more accurately--in the Chinese diet. The Chinese have been raising pigs and eating pork for centuries. In fact, the Chinese word for "meat"--rou--unless otherwise modified, is assumed to mean "pork." Moreover, the Chinese character for "home" (jia), is a stylized representation of a pig under the roof of a house.
Although it has been six years since we returned to the United States from China, I still have vivid memories of celebrating Chunjie in China. Perhaps one day I will again have the opportunity to celebrate this, the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar, in China. To conclude, I will leave you, my readers, with a traditional Chinese New Year greeting: Wan shi ru yi! ("May ten thousand things be as you wish!").
Image of Chinese papercut of a pig from Wikipedia