Pig.

I got my first giveaway 2019 calendar. 

Usually I get them from church, calendars with Renaissance paintings depicting scenes from the New Testament, calendars that list the secular holidays along with religious holy days and all the major saints' feast days. That one goes by the kitchen for quick reference. 

But the church calendar sponsor, a local funeral home (Your days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle! Make arrangements now!), hasn't delivered them yet. Instead, the first free 2019 calendar I got was from our local Chinese restaurant. 

Yes, 2019 -- or the part of it following Chinese New Year on February 5 -- is the Year of the Pig in the Chinese zodiac. The colorful calendar's pigs are pretty cute. They look like happy, fat little piggy banks without the slot on top.

According to the Chinese zodiac, as reported by Travel China Guide, "People with Chinese zodiac Pig sign are considerate, responsible, independent and optimistic. They always show generousness and mercy to endure other people's mistakes, which help them gain harmonious interpersonal relationships. However, sometimes they will behave lazy and lack actions. In addition, pure hearts would let them be cheated easily in daily life."

There are further sub-readings based on the month within the year; for example, a Pig Year person born in January can have lots of luck and bring others wealth, but the outlook is less assured for those Pigs born in June: "People born in June in year of the Pig are very clever. If they work hard, they can succeed in either official circle, business field or art area. If they only want to play around and do not have a goal to achieve, their career will not succeed."

I'm glad that there are differences from month to month, though. I was thinking about teachers in China, if they had to face a new class and knew what to expect by the year these kids were born in:

"Oh, good, we have some Sheep kids coming in this year. Tender, polite, filial, clever, and kindhearted."

"That's a relief. You remember the year we had all those Snakes? Cunning, sly, always hiding in the shadows."

"Boy, do I. I would call roll and half of them would be under their desks!"

The Western zodiac doesn't change much from year to year, just month to month, although risings and houses and other things I could never follow account for individual changes.

Of course, as a Catholic, I'm not supposed to put any credence in this stuff anyway. As Pope Francis says, "When we do not cling to the Word of the Lord, but consult horoscopes and fortune tellers, we begin to sink." We do not want to sink.

There's always a confirmation bias at work with zodiacal thinking -- if someone was born in May and is bullheaded, he's a typical Taurus and evidence of astrological truth; if another person born on the same day in the same town is weak-willed and wishy-washy, it's probably a sign of Ascendant Pisces and thus proof of astrological truth. In other words, there's enough variation to prove whatever you want to prove.

But I might hang up this Chinese astrologically based calendar in my office anyway. The pigs are pretty cute. And the colors are certainly vivid. Those Renaissance portraits are gorgeous and soulful, but the Chinese calendar will keep me awake.