THE CELESTIAL- How the ChowTales Newsletter got it’s name
HOW THE CHOWTALES NEWSLETTER GOT IT’S NAME
The Celestial Empire (1644-1911) was a common name used to refer to China during the late 1800’s into the early 1900’s. Accordingly, the name “Celestial” was used often in early 20th century writings, referring to this exotic new breed from the Far East, being imported to America, called the Chow Chow. A beautiful name with certainly more than one connection to the stellar history of our breed.
2019 CHINESE LUNAR YEAR OF THE EARTH DOG
I chose the name “THE CELESTIAL” for the ChowTales Newsletter for another very significant reason. “Yours truly” was born in the Chinese Lunar Year of the Dog…I am an “earth dog” to be exact. The next Dog Year on the Chinese Lunar calendar is approaching in 2018 (Year of the Yang Earth Dog). The personalities of people born in Dog years are popularly supposed to share certain attributes associated with dogs, such as loyalty and exuberance. In the previous Year of the Dog 2006, my husband and I along with my daughter Liz traveled to China on an amazing adventure.
ABOVE: I really get into my Year of the Dog….These were antique foo dog coins (300 of them) that I donated to the Chow Club Inc Centennial show hospitality bags in 2006.
We plan to return to China in 2018, to hopefully connect with some of the oldest chow chow lineage still present in the country! The Cultural Revolution took many of the puzzle pieces and treasures from our breed, yet the antiquity and tenacity of the Chow is timeless….the “living antiques” are still out there, yet to be discovered.
THE CELESTIAL’S BLUE TONGUE CAME FROM THE SKY
There is a wonderful Chinese legend that tells when it came time for God to paint the sky, a drop of blue paint fell to earth from the paintbrush. The Chow Chow, seeing the juicy blue morsel raining from the sky, stuck out his tongue and caught the droplet of paint. From this point forward, Chow Chows had a blue tongue!
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