By Mark Peterson
Goodbye, Ox. Hello, Tiger. Sounds formidable, no? If the Year of the Ox was bad, and it was, what will the Year of the Tiger bring? On the one hand, who wants to see a tiger come in? But maybe the tiger is a good symbol ― to scare all our other demons away?
In Korea's traditional sexagenary cycle for recording years, 2022 will be the year, "imin." It's a homophone for "immigration;" does that mean it will be a good year for immigrants? In Korea? In Europe? In America?
Looking at "imin" years in the past, every 60 years, 1962, 1902, 1842, 1782, etc., it was a remarkably quiet year, falling between major events. There was a minor purge of officials in 1722, but other than that, nothing pops up ― a quiet year. So, the tiger comes in and keeps bad things from happening, it would appear. This character bodes well for 2022 after all.
Maybe the quietude of this particular year of the cycle reinforces my "song-and-dance" of late: that Korea has more periods of peace and tranquility than it does of war and chaos. There have been, of course, years of chaos, and they are always marked by their designation in the sexagenary cycle. Look at "imjin" ― the year of the absolutely disastrous invasion of Korea by Hideyoshi and his murderous army from Japan, 1592. And there are the "jeongmyo" and "byeongja" invasions of the Manchus ― 1627 and 1636. The "gyeongsul" 1910 annexation of Korea by Japan. These bad years mark their 60-year cycle with bad memories when they reoccur. But there's nothing like that for "imin." It was a "nothing" year, historically.
Does that mean we can expect a year without disaster and chaos? Well, it does if you are into calendar-based fortune telling, which is no better or worse than any other means of fortune telling!
Aside from any fortune-telling, looking at the situation in the world, the dominant issue is the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this vantage point, at the start of the year, things look bad. The virus is out of control and spreading everywhere. This situation only gives hope that another Chinese saying can be appropriately applied: "yongdu sami," "dragon head, snake tail," meaning things start out strong and end in a weak, minor fashion. The phrase is used to mark human efforts that "start off with a bang and end with a whimper." We can hope this is the case for the virus. Will 2022, the third year of this plague, be the final year? Will we finally get back to normal?
Is Omicron the tiger? When we first heard of Omicron, it was described in the fiercest possible terms ― like a tiger. It was said to be highly contagious and potentially severe, with its number of mutations, implying more hospitalizations and deaths. But as time rolls on, it looks like it is not leading to more severe illness. It could potentially drive out variants known to cause more severe cases, hospitalizations and deaths ― Delta and Alpha. Only time will tell, but could it be a tiger that drives away the other demons?
So, at this point, let's be optimistic about this new year. Let's hope it is a Year of the Tiger in which the tiger drives out the bad actors, the worst of the viruses, and leads us to a peaceful, quiet and return-to-normal year. Maybe?
The "imin" tiger year has been quiet, historically. What of the other four tiger year combinations? With "kap" (the year with a 4 ending), we have 1674, with the dispute over how long the king should mourn for his deceased stepmother on the "disturbance" side of the ledger, but we also have on the plus side, the 1434 printing fonts made by King Sejong, one of the finest examples of moveable metal type, one of Korea's claims to fame.
In the 60-year cycle of the "byeong" tiger year, we have the 1866 French incursion on Ganghwa Island, a one-boat, one-island fight that the surrogate king, Heungseon Daewongun, called a victory in the "War" with the French. The persecution of Catholic martyrs also took place in 1866.
In the "mu" series, the only event of note is the rise of the sons of Taejo, with Yi Bangwon putting his brother on the throne in 1398, before he took the throne himself two years later.
So, overall, the 60-year cycle, "imin," has been relatively uneventful. All the other tiger cycles have not been noteworthy either ― except for the one I haven't yet covered, the "zero" year cycle, "gyeongjin." Here we have a serious event, one so serious that it was not marked by the year, but by the day it started: 6.25. Yes, the start of the Korean War was a tiger year event.
So, the bottom line for the upcoming tiger year, the astrologists or calendar fortune tellers will tell us, is that the tiger is a good omen across the board. We're likely in for an uneventful, quiet year ahead. We just have to be sure we don't have another Korean War and the year will turn out okay. Fingers crossed.
Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is a professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
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In Korea's traditional sexagenary cycle for recording years, 2022 will be the year, "imin." It's a homophone for "immigration;" does that mean it will be a good year for immigrants? In Korea? In Europe? In America?
Looking at "imin" years in the past, every 60 years, 1962, 1902, 1842, 1782, etc., it was a remarkably quiet year, falling between major events. There was a minor purge of officials in 1722, but other than that, nothing pops up ― a quiet year. So, the tiger comes in and keeps bad things from happening, it would appear. This character bodes well for 2022 after all.
Maybe the quietude of this particular year of the cycle reinforces my "song-and-dance" of late: that Korea has more periods of peace and tranquility than it does of war and chaos. There have been, of course, years of chaos, and they are always marked by their designation in the sexagenary cycle. Look at "imjin" ― the year of the absolutely disastrous invasion of Korea by Hideyoshi and his murderous army from Japan, 1592. And there are the "jeongmyo" and "byeongja" invasions of the Manchus ― 1627 and 1636. The "gyeongsul" 1910 annexation of Korea by Japan. These bad years mark their 60-year cycle with bad memories when they reoccur. But there's nothing like that for "imin." It was a "nothing" year, historically.
Does that mean we can expect a year without disaster and chaos? Well, it does if you are into calendar-based fortune telling, which is no better or worse than any other means of fortune telling!
Aside from any fortune-telling, looking at the situation in the world, the dominant issue is the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this vantage point, at the start of the year, things look bad. The virus is out of control and spreading everywhere. This situation only gives hope that another Chinese saying can be appropriately applied: "yongdu sami," "dragon head, snake tail," meaning things start out strong and end in a weak, minor fashion. The phrase is used to mark human efforts that "start off with a bang and end with a whimper." We can hope this is the case for the virus. Will 2022, the third year of this plague, be the final year? Will we finally get back to normal?
Is Omicron the tiger? When we first heard of Omicron, it was described in the fiercest possible terms ― like a tiger. It was said to be highly contagious and potentially severe, with its number of mutations, implying more hospitalizations and deaths. But as time rolls on, it looks like it is not leading to more severe illness. It could potentially drive out variants known to cause more severe cases, hospitalizations and deaths ― Delta and Alpha. Only time will tell, but could it be a tiger that drives away the other demons?
So, at this point, let's be optimistic about this new year. Let's hope it is a Year of the Tiger in which the tiger drives out the bad actors, the worst of the viruses, and leads us to a peaceful, quiet and return-to-normal year. Maybe?
The "imin" tiger year has been quiet, historically. What of the other four tiger year combinations? With "kap" (the year with a 4 ending), we have 1674, with the dispute over how long the king should mourn for his deceased stepmother on the "disturbance" side of the ledger, but we also have on the plus side, the 1434 printing fonts made by King Sejong, one of the finest examples of moveable metal type, one of Korea's claims to fame.
In the 60-year cycle of the "byeong" tiger year, we have the 1866 French incursion on Ganghwa Island, a one-boat, one-island fight that the surrogate king, Heungseon Daewongun, called a victory in the "War" with the French. The persecution of Catholic martyrs also took place in 1866.
In the "mu" series, the only event of note is the rise of the sons of Taejo, with Yi Bangwon putting his brother on the throne in 1398, before he took the throne himself two years later.
So, overall, the 60-year cycle, "imin," has been relatively uneventful. All the other tiger cycles have not been noteworthy either ― except for the one I haven't yet covered, the "zero" year cycle, "gyeongjin." Here we have a serious event, one so serious that it was not marked by the year, but by the day it started: 6.25. Yes, the start of the Korean War was a tiger year event.
So, the bottom line for the upcoming tiger year, the astrologists or calendar fortune tellers will tell us, is that the tiger is a good omen across the board. We're likely in for an uneventful, quiet year ahead. We just have to be sure we don't have another Korean War and the year will turn out okay. Fingers crossed.
Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is a professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
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