Exclusive interview with Luís Ortet | The Chinese zodiac for fun

Luís Ortet

It’s the time of year when local Chinese residents try to take a peek at their fortune for the upcoming year by reading Chinese zodiac almanacs. But this tradition surely does not exclude those who are of non-Chinese descent, especially with the help of Luís Ortet, who has been writing the almanacs for “Macau” magazine for years.
From 1992, Mr Ortet has been collecting what the tomes say and presents a summary of the forecast. But he told the Times that he only wrote the almanacs for fun.
Coming to Macau in 1983 as a journalist, Ortet was fascinated by what he found in Macau that was drastically different from his home country, Portugal. “One of the things that I found very interesting was the design of the old Lisboa Hotel and I’d heard people talking about its feng shui,” he said.
Being interested in this part of the Chinese culture, he decided to write about it and visited the feng shui master who had helped the architect of the Lisboa Hotel – master Luk Koo. “He guided me in a visit around the hotel and explained to me why things were [built] the way they are,” he said. The master introduced the architectural features of the hotel to Ortet that carry feng shui significance, such as its bat-like entrance, the open-lock shape pattern on the facade and the hotel lobby that symbolizes the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. Master Luk also explained to Ortet some basic knowledge of feng shui.
“As a consequence, I started to meet several fortune tellers… It was around 1984 and there were several fortune tellers in Senado Square. Some using the Bat Tze (four pillars of destiny) and Tung Shing to calculate the life of a person. Others used some coins and drawings and [a technique] similar to I Ching,” he said.
Mr Ortet said that he expected the fortune teller to tell him that since he belonged to a particular Chinese zodiac sign, his life would go in a certain direction. “But they said ‘no’. They only can say something about someone based on their Bat Tze. Without that, it is almost impossible to make any kind of prognostication about someone,” he said. “I was shocked because before I came to Macau, I read some books written by Americans that said Chinese believe in [zodiac] signs. My assessment nowadays is that there is actually a popular culture of the 12 zodiac signs. But this is just a leisure activity and is only like a topic for people to talk about during Chinese New Year. My assessment is that normal Chinese do not believe in these kinds of things. It’s something funny, interesting and is a very good way of indirectly knowing the real age of a person,” he said.
After gathering all the information, Ortet wrote a book in Portuguese and it turned out to be very successful. “At that time, nobody knew what feng shui was… Nobody ever heard about the Bat Tze. It was completely unknown at that time,” he said.
From his observation, his western friends did not actively show their belief in feng shui after his book came out. Rather, he described the sentiment by quoting a line from Don Quixote: “Yo no creo en brujas pero que las hay las hay (I don’t believe in witchcraft, but it does exist),” saying that it is not a bad idea to ask a feng shui master to take a look at feng shui in respect to local culture. “You don’t want other people to go to your place and say, ‘oh, you have this. Bad feng Shui!’ The best is to ask a feng shui master and solve the problems before they appear,” he said.
When it comes to the credibility of feng shui, Mr Ortet said that while he likes the scientific principles, which are to experiment with and criticize matters, he thinks that science is in fact open to change. “What is taught today is wrong tomorrow,” he said. Therefore, he believes that there are matters that are still to be explained or discovered through science, which include feng shui.
In fact, he described feng shui as a “traditional science”. “It is something very complicated. It is not a superstition. It’s not scientific [in those terms] that it is not something tested by the scientific tests and experiments. But it is something conceived with principles and rules. [Feng Shui is] highly complex, highly mathematical, not in terms of numbers or calculations or reasoning. It’s a very complicated logic,” he said.
“Maybe in the future, part of this knowledge [of feng shui] will be absorbed by science… People in general think that they have to plan their life based on reason, facts and practical thinking. But we know there are other things like [feng shui] that have not been studied by science yet. So, it’s a good principle to stay open.”

CNY: Where to go

Two things must be done during Chinese New Year: making a New Year’s visit (also known as Bainian) and giving (or receiving) red packets. But do not waste your CNY just staying at home because there are numerous activities taking place all across Macau.
One of the best places to go at the beginning of the year would be the A-Ma Temple. The well-known tourist attraction opens from 9 p.m. New Year’s Eve until 6 p.m. today. A member of staff from the temple told the Times that people would usually queue outside to wait for the opportunity to offer their incense at 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, which is midnight in traditional Chinese culture. It is believed that the person who is the first to offer their incense in the New Year will be lucky for the rest of the year.
Apart from selling incense, stalls are also set up outside the A-Ma Temple offering pinwheels and packets of incense. The stalls started operating last night and will continue until February 25.
Mr Liu, one of the stall owners, said that people usually buy the incense packets and offer them in the A-Ma Temple. The pinwheels, he said, are also a popular CNY product.
Another common choice for a New Year past-time would be to light firecrackers. The Macau government has prepared two areas for the enjoyment of firecrackers. One of them is on Avenida Dr Sun Yat-Sen near the Macau Tower, where there are eight stalls selling firecrackers, fireworks and rockets, and two stalls selling snacks and beverages. Another area is on the Estrada Almirante Marques Esparteiro in Taipa near the Regency Hotel, which has five firecracker stalls. The two areas will be open between February 18 and 24.
Mr Yip, one of the stall owners, said that most people are interested in the big firework bombs because of the appealing effects. Although the weather forecast said that there will be some showers, he is confident that it is not going to rain.
If people are seeking some CNY celebration events that are more “crowded”, they can also consider joining the dragon and lion parade this morning that will start in front of the Ruins of St Paul’s. A 238-meter long dragon and 18 lions will parade through Senado Square, A-Ma Temple and the bank of the Sai Van Lake.

There are also performances by an art group from Chongqing today at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. at Senado Square, 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. at Tap Seac Square, as well as 7.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. at Largo dos Bombeiros in Taipa. The performances will also take place tomorrow at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. at Tap Seac Square and 7.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. at Iao Hon Market.
Moreover, residents and visitors will be able to see lion dancing and martial arts’ performances on February 21 in Senado Square at 11 p.m. and February 22 in Tap Seac Square at 4.30 p.m.

Mr Yip (right) at the firecracker stall

Furthermore, the local casino resorts have prepared activities to celebrate CNY with guests. Lion dances will be performed on February 20 at Sands Macau, Venetian Macau and Cotai Central at 11 a.m., 12.30 p.m. and 2.15 p.m. respectively.
The God of Fortune will appear in Grand Lisboa between February 19 and 25 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. The hotel has also invited feng shui masters to talk to guests about the almanacs.

Mr Liu at a pinwheel stall

A water ballet show will take place at the impressive 8.3m-high Water-sky Aquarium at the Grande Praça in MGM Macau during Chinese New Year. XiQi Aqua Dance, one of the leading water shows in Asia, will perform stunningly beautiful synchronized swimming routines. The 10-minute water ballet performances are scheduled each day at 6.30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. between February 19 and 23.
Two restaurants in Altira – Ying and Monsoon – have prepared a series of special menus for the celebration of the Year of the Goat. The “New Year Festive Specialties” menu, which is a set lunch and Dim Sum, is available between February 18 and March 5. The “Auspicious Feast” menu, which is Ying’s Superior Poon Choi, is available between February 4 and March 5. JPL