Blabbering balderdash
Gamal Nkrumah has a gloriously grandiose apparition of Cowgirls and a lionised Ox in 2009
Sometimes creativity seeks out topicality. And, sometimes topicality is thrust upon the imagination. This week marks the commencement of the Chinese lunar year Earth Ox (26 January 2009-14 February 2010). The Chinese traditional lunar Jichou Year of 2009 commences at a time of tremendous social upheaval spurred on by the international financial crisis. It also marks the first week in office of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama. At first glance these are by no means two particularly analogous events. Curiously, I instinctively sensed that in some unearthly fashion they were inextricably intertwined. Not precisely interrelated, except perhaps, by a wide stretch of the imagination. Intuition, call it what you will, however, egged me on. For I am no astrologer.
As it happens, President Obama is according to the Chinese zodiac an Ox. Coincidence, I presume. He is no Earth Ox, though. Obama's Chinese zodiac elemental sign is the Metal Ox. Presumably that is why he was so lionised in his native land and across the globe. According to the Chinese zodiac, a Metal Ox is not to be bullied.
Constructed within a cosmos of Yin and Yang and five elements -- Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth -- the Chinese zodiac is a complex conceptual system that rivals the astrological Sun signs of the West and the Middle East. Like the Sun signs, the Chinese horoscope claims to confer clues to characters. The Ox is the sturdiest beast of burden in challenging times.
For the past few weeks, I had desperately tried to catch the latest news bulletin about the prospects of the then president- elect Obama and the challenges he faced. And I was confronted by the same broadcasts portraying a most distressing picture of the desperate defiance of the Palestinians of Gaza in the face of the savage Israeli onslaught. And, I was struck by images around the world that affirmed that we live in hard times as the grim realities of the global economic meltdown loomed large. This was clearly a period of fortitude, the ushering in of the Year of the Earth Ox.
There is something about cows. Don't ask me what. But there is. The first flowering of civilisation and the domestication of cattle went hand in hand. Then to cap it all, there was the scandalous infant milk product that came to a close just before the Chinese new lunar year.
The second sign of the Chinese horoscope is the Buffalo, or the Ox. Others include the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey and Rat. The Chinese zodiac is based on the Chinese calendar. Each of these animals represents certain characteristics and character traits peculiar to people born in the year represented by the respective animal. The Ox woman, for instance, is an incurable idealist, though don't be fooled by the disarming naiveté of Cowgirls.
Contrary to the conjecture of conventional wisdom, Cowgirls seldom rush forward to stomp on your toes. Think of some of the most famous Cowgirls in Hollywood -- Sigourney Weaver and Jessica Lange, and of course my very favourite Meryl Streep, born on 22 June 1949 and hence a Cancerian. She, too, is an Ox. A Cowgirl by any other name means a woman of substance and sensuality.
And, what about the Cowboys? Well we have the likes of Richard Gere and Pedro Almodovar, the beautiful boys. And, in Egypt we had our very own Ox, the late Ahmed Zaki who died tragically young but had left an indelible mark on Egyptian cinema. He, by the way, was both Scorpio and Ox -- a potent combination of charisma and conviction. And then, we have the bad boys -- Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler. The Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, too, is a Cowgirl.
Seven millennia after the ancient Egyptians deified the ungulate, the gloss has rubbed off some of the more exotic attributes of the venerated Cow-goddess Hathor. However, in many ways Hathor reflects the Chinese vision of the Ox. The ancient Greeks, inspired by Hathor the original Mother- goddess of the ancient Egyptians, turned her into Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty. There is a goddess-like Hathor in every Cowgirl, as women born in the Chinese Year of the Ox are sometimes called. And, there is no more Hathor-like Cowgirls than those born in the Year of the Earth Ox.
And, what about Michele Obama? No, the first lady is no Cow. She happens to be a Monkey. But that's another story.
Let your imagination run wild. But then the wild ungulate was one of the earliest beasts to be domesticated, as it happens, in Africa in Neolithic times. Bos taurus, as it is scientifically known, is associated with benevolence in many traditional cultures. It was, however, the castrated male bovine that was chosen as the symbol of people born in the Chinese Year of the Ox. Does this imply that Obama might not be up to the task?
The illusion persists because it is not easy to gauge the true nature, the symbolism, of the Earth Ox. Few women, I suspect, would want to identify with the emasculated ungulate derisively named the ox. However, it is the virtuous attributes of the creature that one ought to focus on.
There are several types of Ox in Chinese mythology. There is the resolute Metal Ox, the romantic Water Ox, the practical Wood Ox, the bullish Fire Ox and the more sedate Earth Ox. This week happens to usher in the year of the Earth Ox, according to Chinese mythology.
In the Vietnamese zodiac, the water buffalo occupies the position of the ox, in the Chinese zodiac. It is interesting to note, however, that cattle cannot be successfully bred with the water buffalo, the much-maligned gamoussa of Egypt. Decide for yourself whether you'd rather identify with a draft beast, a heifer or the puissant water buffalo.
In the annals of history, the cow has in many disparate cultures been idealised as a sacred beast. It is not hard to see why the creature inspires such cult status. The ox is no eunuch, though. A revered creature, the cow represented generosity and fortitude in the face of adversary in a bygone era when beauty was not an abstract concept as it is today, but rather a functional one.
To the ancient Egyptians, true happiness -- eternal bliss -- was depicted in a curious hieroglyph as a cow suckling its calf. Of all God's creatures this was chosen as the mothering and nurturing symbol.
On the Papyrus of Ani, Hathor was hauntingly depicted as a cow, wearing her royal necklace and adorned with her sacred eye and sun disc as a crown enveloped by her horns. To the ancient Egyptians, the beneficence of the Eternal River Nile was everything. It was the here and the hereafter. And, Hathor was associated with munificence and liberality. Her waters heralding the birth of a child. The amniotic sac breaks, the river bank overflows and the waters flood irrigating the parched land. And, so it is with women of the Earth Ox.
In much the same vein, Hathor was the personification of the Milky Way. Hers was the milk that flows in abundance from the udders of the heavenly Cow. So, it came to pass that the Cow- deity of ancient Egypt and the Earth Ox of the Chinese coincide.
And, so does the Maha, the Arabian Oryx, that remains to this day a popular name for girls. Maha is what to Arabs, Aphrodite is to classical Greece. And, the sacred cow of India conveys the same sense of prodigality and plenteousness. In their natural habitat, they graze on grass in pastures in total abandon.
The heifer, the cow before she had her first calf, is a creature of promise. Like the beautiful virgin of ancient legends the heifer is inevitably initiated. The creature's seductive eyes are the dead give away. Hathor was a heifer, the captivating cow, the beguiling Virgin-Mother.
Look deeply into her eyes and you will understand why the ancient Arabs called the beautiful-eyed woman Maha, quite a common name in contemporary Egypt.
One thing that has always baffled me is why in the West, or in Britain at any rate, a despicable woman is commonly called a cow. The Brits really are missing out on something. The cow is far from being a detestable animal. It is generous to a fault, and inextricably intertwined with the virtue of fortitude and patience. Indeed, the ruminants regurgitate and re- chew as cud the copious amounts of grasses they consume.
I remain convinced that if they could strip away all the cultural bias and concede that cows are beautiful creatures, it would not be such an insult to be born a woman in the Year of the Ox. Cowgirls are not exactly the Chinese equivalent of Taurean females. However, there are unmistakable parallelisms between Taurus, ruled by Venus, and those born in the Year of the Ox.
Perhaps the luckiest Cowgirl is a Taurean who also happens to be an Ox. They both have a bovine quality about them, but in the best possible sense of the word. The Cowgirl will help you find your lost illusions. Cowgirls cannot catch subtle satire. They are practical creatures. Even so, there is an uncanny resemblance between the people born under the Fixed Earth sign of Taurus and those born in the Chinese Year of the Ox. However, it is time to gaze into the crystal ball and see when President Obama, a typical Metal Ox, takes up the gauntlet and come to the rescue of those hardest hit by the credit crisis. Let him prove his mettle.
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