Crowds Celebrate Year Of The Rat At Chinese American Museum
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A crowd packed into the Chinese American Museum on Sunday to mark the Year of the Rat.
The festive event at the museum, at 238 W. 23rd St. in Chinatown, featured the traditional lion dance. The dance is said to bring good luck and fortune.
Families also enjoyed Chinese music and food, and cultural arts and crafts.
The website ChineseNewYear.net notes that the rat is the first of all the zodiac animals.
One myth claims the Jade Emperor decided the order of the animals would be determined by the order in which they arrived at his party. The rat first tricked the ox into giving him a ride and then jumped down so he could be the first to arrive, the website said.
Rats were seen as a sign of wealth and surplus in Chinese culture, the website said.
The years 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, and 2008 were also years of the rat.