For most Asian countries, Lunar New Year is one of the biggest holidays for celebration. Now that we can feel the festive spirits in the air with all the flower blossoms and other signs of the spring season, it’s time to enter the hopeful Year of the Cat 2023. When the final months of 2022 are drawing to a close, let’s relive the story of how the Cat comes up as the 4th place in the Vietnamese zodiac calendar. More importantly, how it can bring you peace, love, and kindness in the upcoming year.

What else is new?

Name: The year of the cat (rabbit) artisan keycaps
Brand: Jelly Key

When it comes to the zodiac calendar, there are many myths surrounding the animals and their orders in the calendar. In China and some other Asian cultures, 2023 is a Rabbit year. However, for Vietnam – the country where the Jelly Key team is based- the Cat will represent this next year with lots of tales to be told. Don’t worry, though; we have also created rabbit designs so everyone can enjoy our holiday keycaps.

All of the stories about our zodiac calendar are incredible from beginning to end, and we have picked an exceptional version to tell you today. Since we’re about to enter the year this elegant animal represents, the tale should be just as remarkable. It differs from the usual Great Race saga by the Jade Emperor that you probably have read before in our previous Lunar New Year collections. More interestingly, it comes with some small yet exciting details.

As you know, the legend unfolds how the Cat comes in fourth in the Great Race, determining the order of the Lunar Calendar’s years within a 12-animal cycle. The Cat and the Rat are considered the most intelligent creatures, which, unfortunately, are the worst swimmers. Every animal is eager to win when the Jade Emperor announces the Great Race, especially these two mischievous contestants. However, the race traces through a river, and they all need to cross it to reach the destination – a disadvantage for non-swimmers like Cat and Rat.

They then devise a plan to win and con the kind, innocent Ox into helping them by allowing them to cross the river on its back. Everything starts to fall apart as the Ox approaches the other side of the river. The Rat pushes the Cat into the river, then hops off the Ox to reach the Jade Emperor, making it the first in the zodiac. Not being able to catch up with two more animals – the Ox and the Tiger while drowning, the Cat finishes the race in the 4th place. Legend also says the reason why cats always hunt rats is because of this act of sabotage.

Jelly Key tradition never gets old!

The zodiac animals of Asian culture carry a symbolic meaning that mostly share the same characteristics as the real ones in our world. It has also become a common belief that people will have personalities resembling those of the specific animal that represents their birth year. We can also tell the mood of the whole year by its animal sign.

Because 2022 was a Tiger year, these 12 months were full of adventures, vitality, and strength. Moving on to 2023 – the Year of the Cat, this year will be filled with fortune, peace, and pride. After all the hardship and challenges we’ve endured in the past year, there’s no better time to enjoy peaceful moments and receive all the good luck the Cat will bring. That’s quite a year to look forward to!

Now that 2023 is about to come, Jelly Key is happy to introduce the Happy Meow Year artisan keycaps to celebrate the new year. The Happy Meow Year collection will have many cat designs, as the name suggests. These designs will come with a cuteness overload with lots of kitty expressions and other adorable traits of these beloved felines. And, of course, we can only create them by highlighting the holiday vibe and colours, as this is what the collection is about: celebrating the Lunar New Year with style. Happy the Year of the Cat 2023!