Cock-a-doodle-doo / 꼬끼오

Well the year of the rooster (or chicken, take your pick) has begun and I feel I should offer some sort of poultry-themed post or at the very least a deep and meaningful new year's message. Perhaps something along the lines of: Happy Rooster Year, peace and chickens for all!

In other news: some jokers in Sydney seem to have been marking the occasion by catapulting frozen chickens at people's houses. Apparently rooster years can be bloody and unpleasant but they are good for the gold market (so that's alright then). The health prognosis isn't great either:

A local feng shui master is warning that problems with the respiratory tract and the intestines will dominate the first three lunar months, until early May, and will peak in the period from August to November.

In Hong Kong people are already nervous about a possible return of Sars and fear the rooster - the bird that's supposed to bring good fortune - may this year bring bird flu instead.

In the 60-year cycle 2005 is the Ûlyu (乙酉) year. The last was in 1945, which of course saw the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule. Previous to that, the Ûlyu year of 1885 was not exactly one to remember in Korean history, but it was noteworthy for Britain's one imperialist adventure on the Korean peninsula. Actually, Britain never quite made it onto the peninsula itself but made do with occupying Komundo island (고문도), renaming it in typical British style Port Hamilton, a measure apparently designed to foil Russian ambitions in East Asia (all part of the 'Great Game' I believe).

Unfortunately, the omens for this Ûlyu year are not good as North Korea has decided to mark it by announcing that it will not attend talks on the nuclear issue 'indefinitely', and has apparently also affirmed that it has nuclear weapons. So it looks like another year of brinkmanship-style fun for all the family.