Year of the Dragon, 2012: Lucky Money

January 21, 2012

My mom sent a nice gift to me and Liz, to help celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year – a bit of lucky money.

Interestingly enough, the card came with a bit of info about the new year and the enclosed $1 bill:

The Dragon is one of the 12 zodiac symbols associated with the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Some Chinese believe their fate is closely tied to the zodiac symbols in the year in which they were born. May the Chinese expression “as you wish” bring you peace and happiness in the “year of the Dragon” and years to come.

Wishing you success, wealth and fortune with the enclosed uncirculated $1 Federal Reserve Note, which features a serial number beginning with 8888. In many Asian communities, the number 8 signifies wealth and prosperity. May this Lucky Money Note bring you success and may all of your wishes be fulfilled in the “Year of the Dragon.”

I didn’t read over the text at first, but realized later that the bill was specifically chosen for its serial number: 8888.

There is an interesting link between Chinese superstition and synonyms. The letter 8 in Chinese (Mandarin: “ba,” Cantonese: “baht”) is considered a lucky number. I know it’s lucky because it sounds similar to other words, but I’ve forgotten what those other words mean. I also know the number 4 is considered unlucky, given its synonym. In Cantonese, the number 4 is pronounced “say,” and phonetically sounds exactly like the word for “death.”

I guess it’s no surprise there’s a lot tied in with language, as you can have one word mean several different things depending on how you pronounce or accentuate the word. There are many days where I wish I would have paid more attention, studied harder and actually tried to learn how to read/write Chinese.

Interestingly enough, on the back I found out that these were (apparently) printed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Weird.

I was talking with Ben last week, and he reminded me of the annual Chinese New Year parade in Chicago’s Chinatown. Will have to try to make it a point to go out there this year, and take some pictures…