Chinese Zodiac

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Origin of Chinese Zodiac

The Lunar New Year dates from 2600 BC, when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the Chinese zodiac.
In ancient times, Chinese ancestors counted the years with 10 celestial stems and 12 terrestrial branches. Thus the animals that influenced people’s lives were chosen to symbolize the terrestrial branches: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
Legend
According to Chinese legend, the twelve animals quarreled one day as to who was to head the cycle of years. The gods were asked to decide and they held a contest: whoever was to reach the opposite bank of the river would be first, and the rest of the animals would receive their years according to their finish.

All the twelve animals gathered at the river bank and jumped in. Unknown to the ox, the rat had jumped upon his back. As the ox was about to jump ashore, the rat jumped off the ox’s back, and won the race. The pig, who was very lazy, ended up last. That is why the rat is the first year of the animal cycle, the ox second, and the pig last.

Zodiac Chart: The rotating cycle of twelve animal signs was a folk method for naming the years in traditional China. The animal signs for one another in an established order, and are repeated every twelve years. 1976 was the Year of the Dragon, and 1977 was the year of the Snake.
For a long time there has been a special relationship between humans and the 12 zodiacal animals. Humans admired them, took them as totems, and in the artistic field, those animal signs were among the features of those themes. This can be reflected in artisans’ paper-cut works, New-Year pictures, pottery and bronze wares, especially on the bronze mirrors before the appearance of glass ones, on which elaborate forms showed creativity and passion as well as wishes for a good life.

In China, instead of asking your age, people may ask you questions like “what do you belong to?” Don’t ever think that you are expected to answer like “I belong to the US”. You are supposed to belong to one of twelve animals!

Chinese Zodiac Animals As sometimes happens with historical developments, several versions of the origin of the Chinese Zodiac exist. This is to be expected, espec...