With 2026 almost upon us a Japanese friend tells me she was born in 1966—a significant year in Japan. It was a 丙午 yeaa (pronounced hinoeuma) and which my dictionary defines as "Fire Horse (43rd term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1906, 1966, 2026)."
A moment's research on the web and I found this: "In 1966, Japan experienced a sudden drop in its fertility rate—for just that year. During the 1960s, the fertility rate was about 2.0 to 2.1 children per woman, but in 1966 it dropped dramatically to 1.6 children per woman. The number of births in 1966 was much lower than in surrounding years." How come?
"The superstition is that women born in this year of the 'Fire-Horse' have a bad personality and will kill their future husband. I presume the parents then were worried about their daughter’s huge disadvantage in the future marriage market, so they chose to avoid the risk of having a girl. Sex detection during pregnancy was not available then, so many families avoided having children altogether in 1966. This kind of superstition seems to have been more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas, because the fertility drop in urban areas was less than in rural areas." (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/curse-fire-horse-how-superstition-impacted-fertility-rates-japan)
I presume that the curse (misfortune) only works in Japan, but you can't be too careful. My friend for her part had less competition applying to college, is happily married, and has a delightful personality.
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