Acupuncture Continuing Education

Year of the Ram

Year of the green wood sheep.

2015 is the year of the wood ram and is the year 4713 in the Chinese calendar. This is also referred to as the year of the sheep or goat. The year of the ram begins February 3, 2015 at 8pm PST on the Start of Spring day. The Chinese New Year is celebrated on the new moon of the first lunar month and lands on February 19 at 7:48am in China and 3:48pm on February 18 in the USA. The Vietnamese new year is celebrated on the same day but the Cambodian, Laos and Thai new year is celebrated in April. 

The ram is the eighth sign in the Chinese zodiac system and rules between 1 - 3pm. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), this is the small intestine hand taiyang time of day on the Chinese medicine internal organ clock. The small intestine channel is an acupuncture meridian located on the posterior aspect of the lateral portion of the arm. The small intestine channel receives qi from the heart hand shaoyin channel and continues the flow of qi to the bladder foot taiyang channel in the twelve main meridian circuit of qi. 

People born between 1 - 3pm have the ram as their ascendant sign and will have many of the characteristics of those born in the year of the ram. The direction associated with the ram sign is south by southwest and the associated season is summer. Fire is the ram’s fixed element and 2015 is the year of the green wooden ram. The last wood ram year was 1955.

The ram is a yin sign associated with peace and tranquility. Wooly sheep are often loving, sincere, generous, forgiving, gentle and well-tempered. Ram are sure-footed but require protection and consciously avoid becoming prey. Consequently, sheep tend to worry and dislike pressure, criticism and fighting. Ram move with the herd and like to follow, however, ram are equally determined, loyal, careful and conscientious. Interestingly, ram are associated with incredibly good luck. The wood element in the year of the ram lends fortitude and steadiness to 2015. 

The US Department of the Treasury continues its tradition of printing lucky money associated with the Chinese lunar calendar. The year of the sheep lucky money features a $1 note with a serial number beginning with 8888. The number 8 is considered a lucky number.

luckysheepmoney

 

The United States Postal Service features a special stamp to commemorate the Year of the Ram:

Year of the Sheep stamp 

 

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