»Golden Dog brings good fortune« – The third day of the Lunar New Year is said to be the day when mice get married

Customs vary from place to place. In Taiwan, the local people consider the third day of the lunar month to be a minor New Year’s day. It is said that on the night of the third day, it is the wedding night for mice; therefore, lights are not turned on late at night, and rice and salt are scattered on the ground. People should go to bed early so as not to interfere with the mice’s celebration. On the tenth day in Pingyao County, Shanxi, people place dough cakes at the base of walls, an activity known as \"celebrating the mouse’s daughter’s wedding.\" In some areas of Qinghai, there is a custom of steaming rats to blind them. On the 14th day of the first lunar month each year, every family shapes twelve rats out of dough, without making eyes for them, and then steams them. During the Lantern Festival, these rats are placed on the altar, with lights lit and incense burned, in order to pray that the rats will eat only grass roots and not harm the crops, thus ensuring a good harvest for that year. In some areas of the suburbs of Shanghai, it is said that the ceremony of the rats getting married takes place on the 16th day of the first lunar month. On that night, every family fries sesame candy, which serves as the wedding sweets for the rats. There is also a *custom in the Shanghai area to ward off mice from failing. When a rat goes out to look for food and falls to the ground, it is called a \"rat falling to the ground.\" It is said that seeing such an event is an omen of bad fortune; the rat will either fall ill or die, and some ritual must be performed to ward off this bad luck. The method involves begging for white rice along the streets; it is called \"hundred-households’ rice\" and is taken home to cook meals, after which it can resolve the problem. Customs in Xiaogan: According to local folklore in Xiaogan, the night of the 15th day of the first lunar month is considered the day when mice marry their daughters, and people are not allowed to make noise at home. The woman should light a lamp made of sesame oil under the bed, and while praying she should say, “Please, the Goddess of Matchmaking, look at this lamp.” ”It is said that in this way, there will be no bedbug troubles for a whole year. People also threw bamboo baskets from the rooftops to gauge the yield of cotton. When looking up, there is a bountiful harvest; when looking down, there is a poor harvest. In some places, the custom of the Mouse Bride Day is also used as a form of child-blessing witchcraft. For example, in Qianyang, Shaanxi, the 15th day of the first lunar month is considered the day when mice get married; on this day, every family makes mouse-shaped buns. Superstition holds that a bride who visits a household in those days can become pregnant if she eats the rat’s tail from the rat-shaped cake ； Through the window, the mouse-shaped cake was thrown into the new bride’s room; if the \"mouse\" faced upward, it was a sign of a son being born, while if it faced downward, it was a sign of a daughter being born. According to Henan’s folk legends, the 7th, 17th, and 27th days of the first lunar month are the days when mice marry off their daughters. There is a saying that goes, \"Marry on the 7th, give away the daughter in marriage on the 17th, and have a baby on the 27th,\" which is why dumplings are eaten on these three days. In the north, the ceremony of marrying off a mouse takes place on the night of the 25th day of the first lunar month. That night, no families lit any lights; everyone sat by the kang in silence, eating in the dark foods made from flour such as \"rat paws,\" \"scorpion tails,\" and fried soybeans. Not turning on the lights or making any noise is meant to facilitate the marriage of the mouse, out of fear of disturbing the wedding celebration. Eating “rat paws” means people hope that the rats’ paws will itch, so that they will wake up and start moving around earlier ； Eating “scorpion tails” is to prevent mice from being harmed by scorpions when they leave their burrows to marry. Eating fried soybeans makes a crisp crunching sound, as if setting off firecrackers for a rat’s wedding.

Happy New Year! Come by often if you have time. －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－ **The Post Office issued a set of 4 special stamps and 1 sheet covering Zhanzhou woodblock New Year prints on January 18, 2009; the serial number is 2009-2.** The patterns are respectively: Lion Holding a Sword, Daily Wealth, Heavenly Goddess Bestowing a Son, and Rat Marrying Off Its Daughter. The composition of “The Rat’s Daughter’s Marriage” in Zhangzhou woodblock New Year paintings is compact, and the scenes are humorous. It combines scenes of scholars passing the imperial examinations with celebratory activities such as beating drums, creating a joyful atmosphere. “\"The Rat’s Daughter’s Marriage\" is a representative work of Zhangzhou woodblock New Year paintings.

The year 008 was the traditional Chinese lunar Year of the Rat. The postal New Year card issued by the Wuhan Morning Post for that year featured as its main image a paper-cut depiction of the scene of \"a rat marrying off its daughter\" (with a copy of the Wuhan Morning Post placed in the bridal palanquin). Coincidentally, the zodiac stamp for the Year of the Rat issued by the postal service on January 5, 2008, depicts a rat woman about to get married; her intelligent and spirited appearance is vividly portrayed against the backdrop of lilies and Buddha’s hand. The size of the stamp matches exactly the size of the space in the illustration where the bridal sedan chair is located. Moreover, the folk paper-cut style used in the stamp is consistent with the artistic representation of the scene of the rat girl getting married in the illustration. The author attached the zodiac stamp for the Year of Wuzi to the seating area of the bridal palanquin, covering the design on the Wuhan Morning Post; then they applied the commemorative stamp issued by Wuhan Philatelic Company specifically for this zodiac stamp, thereby creating a complete image of \"the mouse marrying off its daughter\" (Figure ①). The rat groom, the rat ushers, the rat porters, and so on – just like in human ceremonies – though all have pointed noses and thin legs, they wear red shirts and red pants. They move around in groups, creating a scene that is both grand and humorous, festive and harmonious. Their distinct artistic style and playful charm make them truly delightful to watch.

The 1996 Ghanaian souvenir sheet featuring the zodiac stamps for the Year of the Rat tells the story of a rat getting married; it consists of four stamps, each depicting a different scene from this wedding: in the first stamp, the groom rides a horse while rats play gongs and suona to open the way; in the second stamp, the rats carrying the procession hold up signs saying “a century-long union” and “happy marriage”; in the third stamp, the rats carry a bridal palanquin with the bride inside; in the fourth stamp, the rats carry the dowry, and interestingly, one of them holds a fish, likely as an offering to the “Lord Cat”. The small stamp reads in Chinese, “The Mouse Marries a Bride””