The Chinese Year of the Pig runs from Feb. 5, 2019 through Jan. 24, 2020. Lucky colors for this pig year are red and white.

We are in the middle of the Chinese Spring Festival, the lunar New Year celebration.

The 2019 Spring Festival began Feb. 5 and will end Feb. 19, with the Lantern Festival.

I have seen traditional Asian sky lanterns on television; I believe they were featured in an advertisement for pharmaceuticals. In the ad, the night sky is illuminated by small sky lanterns, also known as hot air balloons and fire balloons. They are beautiful as they rise to join dozens of other lanterns, points of light drifting in the wind high above the earth.

These lanterns, said to date back 2,000 years or more, are traditionally powered by a lighted wax candle which heats the air beneath an oiled rice paper dome, causing it to rise. Now they are sometimes made of thin plastic.

Wow! I said to myself, that looks dangerous.

Well, yes, a little research showed that fire lanterns are banned in many parts of the world. Best not to release a fleet of fire balloons into the forests of the Adirondack Park.

When I wrote “Good news! It’s the Year of the Pig,” I did not mean that it will be good news for everyone.

While Pig years are generally considered fortunate for most, for those born in the Year of the Dog, not so much.

Also, confoundingly, it is said to be a difficult year for those who, like me, were born in Pig years. It seems unfair, but then no one ever said the Chinese zodiac was going to be fair.

There are 12 animal years in the Chinese zodiac, and they follow in order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig (often referred to as “the noble Pig”).

It used to be, when I began writing this column, that a person had to pick up a paper placemat at a Chinese restaurant in order to discover what animal year he or she was born in. Now, of course, you can simply Google “Chinese Zodiac.”

According to the Chinese zodiac, there are also five so-called elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Babies born this year (in the Chinese calendar) are Earth Pigs. Earth Pigs are said to be social butterflies. They are good at making friends and networking. Although a new pig year comes along every 12 years, there will not be another Earth Pig year for 60 years.

Pigs of every year are generous, peaceable and gallant. I am a Fire Pig. This gallant, generous and fiery swine is the totem of the most populous year of the Baby Boom. A fine swine he is, and yet I would hazard a guess that most of my fellow boomers, born in 1947, do not self-identify as Fire Pigs.

My great nephew, Henry, was also born in a Fire Pig year. When I informed my niece that her first son and I share this link (no, I am not referring to sausage), she took it in the right spirit, I think, although a Fire Piglet was probably the last thing she would have thought of in connection with little Henry.

There is nothing insulting about being born in a Pig year, let me tell you.

The Chinese zodiac can be pretty confusing. If you don’t understand how it works, and want to understand it, don’t bother talking to Chinese young people. I’ve tried it, and they had no idea what I was going on about.

“Why Pig?” one young Chinese woman asked sympathetically.

No, you might as well go straight to the source, those paper placemats in Chinese restaurants. Another good resource tool for me has been a feng shui book on how to organize your home, which unfortunately I can’t find right now. Sometimes I suspect that this animal astrology isn’t ancient Chinese lore at all, but merely a product of the Chinese food industry.

Still, I will try to make the best of this Pig year, since there won’t be another for 12 years. I doubt I will be around for the next Fire Pig year, when I would be 120.

Just to be on the safe side, wear red and white-this will be compatible with your Valentine’s Day observances-and leave those fire lanterns alone.

Have a good week.