今年到底是兔年还是猫年？

Facebook上一位越南裔朋友祝各地亚裔朋友兔年快乐，而祝他的越南朋友猫年快乐。

我还以为他开玩笑，上网一搜，果然发现，今年是越南的猫年。

越南农历也是十二生肖，不同的是，牛年我们没说黄牛水牛还是牦牛，他们限定为水牛(Year of Buffalo). 

还有一点不同，就是我们的兔年，他们说是猫年。这是“越南在线“上的说法：

Zodiac of Cat – the flexible one

(1963; 1975; 1987; 1999; 2011; 2023)

It is the same from the East to the West for dog and cat to be popular domestic pets. These two animals are loved by people all around the world (except those with an allergy), yet cat in Vietnam seems to be raised more widespread than dog. The very first reason for this difference is that cat is extremely useful for keeping rice from pests. Gradually, cat becomes more and more familiar with Vietnamese, sharing with them wealth and poverty, sorrow and happiness.

Cat person reflects the typical characteristics of cat, who is supposed to be tender but secretive. Cat person is courteous and sociable, yet always they keep for themselves a secret that makes them attractive. It is hard to tell whether cat people can be happy or unhappy in life since fate depends on many things else, yet definitely cat person is a mind of great depth.

为什么兔年变成了猫年？越南学者有多个说法：

一是我们的“寅虎卯兔”中的“卯”，被误听成了“猫”。

二是中国草原地多，兔子常见。越南水稻田多，猫吃老鼠，保护庄稼。

再接着就是各种各样的民间传说，例如玉帝让动物比赛，决定生肖，中国版本是老鼠胜过了猫，越南版本中，猫未遭淘汰，而是子鼠丑牛寅虎卯猫，等于是打入了亚洲四强。

很好奇的是，如果是我们过的不是兔年，而是猫年，会有何变化？

会不会有人因猫鼠犯冲，棒打鸳鸯？

会不会有私企老板属鼠，不招属猫的员工？

如果黄永兔老人画玉，画得舆论大哗，如果画的是猫，会是什么情景？

我无知，不知今年是越南猫年，可是听说之后去查，才发现美国的各大媒体上，对这个猫年的报道，竟比比皆是。养兔的人少，养猫的人大多。这猫年要是酷将起来，是分分钟的事。越南人要是拿猫年农历去申遗，大家有无意见？

最后，趁机发一些我曾养过的猫：