Chinese Zodiac Animals
Every culture has its own sets of beliefs and traditions. And the folklore and stories passed on from generation to generation form a vital part of this culture. Whether people strongly believe in such folklore is a different matter. In most cases the belief is a matter of convenience and preference. But an undeniable reality is that most people hold such ideals close to their hearts and are sooner amused rather than influenced by such traditions.
A
typical example is the Chinese belief in the zodiac animals and lunar calendar.
Of course the Western calendar was adopted in
One striking difference between the Western and Chinese calendars is the concept of time. The Western calendar uses the linear concept of time while the Chinese calendar represents a cyclic concept of time. This means that something is repeated time after time according to a pattern.
The most popular folk method based on this cyclical method is the twelve animals signs of the lunar calendar. Every year is given an animal sign and name according to the repeating cycle. The animals used are the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and the Boar.
These signs would repeat every twelve years. Five cycles of the twelve years make up a complete cycle of 60 years. Thus when a Chinese person turns 60, the person celebrates the birthday with a large banquet to commemorate the completion of a full cycle.
There are two slightly different stories behind the choice and order of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. According to the first story, the twelve animals once had a quarrel on the issue of who was to head the cycle of years. Ultimately the Gods were asked to decide and the Gods suggested that they have a contest. The animals were to cross a river and the animal that reached first would be the first and the rest of the animals would get their positions according to the order in which they finished. All the twelve animals plunged into the water and started the race. The Ox was by far the strongest swimmer, but unknown to the Ox the cunning rat had climbed onto its back.
So, just when the Ox was about to climb ashore, the rat jumped off its back and was declared the winner. So the first year of the cycle is the year of the rat and the second the year of the ox. The pig who was the laziest reached last and that’s why the last year is the year of the pig.
The second story is the more popular legend. It says that centuries ago, the Chinese had no way of measuring time. Then the Jade Emperor, the Emperor of Heaven invited all the animals on the occasion of his birthday and arranged a race. Again it was a river that the animals were supposed to cross and the order of winning would decide the order of the years.
The difference in this story is that the cat and rat being poor swimmers asked the Ox to carry them across the river. The good natured and simple Ox who was a powerful swimmer agreed.
On the way, the rat began to fear that the cat might win the race so it pushed the cat into the water. Thus began the enmity between cats and rats. Just when the Ox was about to reach the land the rat jumped off and was declared the rat as the first zodiac animal and the Ox as the second.
The tiger came third explaining that he had to overcome the powerful downstream currents of the river and he was named third by the Jade Emperor.
The next to reach the shore was the rabbit who had to hop from stone to stone until he at last secured a floating log which took him to shore. So the rabbit was named fourth.
Surprisingly the dragon who could fly and swim reached only fifth and the explanation offered by the dragon was that the people on earth were hit by a drought and being unable to see them suffer had stayed back to make rain. And after that he had seen a helpless rabbit holding on to a log and had used his breath to blow the log to shore.
The jade emperor complimented the dragon for his benevolence and just then the horse made its appearance. But before the horse could be named as the sixth, the shrewd snake slid out of the hoof of the horse, startling the horse and making him jump backwards. So the snake was named the sixth zodiac and the horse the seventh.
The rooster, the sheep and the monkey made their appearance together on a raft. The rooster had spotted the raft and on the way had picked up the sheep and the monkey who had helped to clear the weeds and steer the raft ashore.
The Emperor complimented then and named the sheep the monkey and the rooster as the eighth, the ninth and the tenth zodiacs respectively.
The dog came next with the explanation that it had been some time since he had had a bath so he had stalled for a while to have a bath. The dog was named the eleventh zodiac while to have a bath. The dog was named the eleventh zodiac. The last one to arrive was the Pig who had stopped for a snack and a nap on the way. So the pig became the twelfth zodiac. So the order of the twelve animals is that rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig.
The Chinese have developed horoscopes based on these animal signs. Characteristics are attributed to various animals, so a person born in the year of an animal would have the disposition of that animal.
These animal zodiacs serve another social purpose. Asking a person’s age is considered delicate in most societies, the Chinese get over this problem by asking about a person’s animal sign. This can easily place a person’s age within a cycle of 12 years. Then with some simple mathematics we can figure out the persons age.
-Copyright © 2003 SCULPTUREDSTONE.COM. All rights reserved.