Chinese New Year and the Animals of the Chinese Zodiac
By: Tippy & Alfred
The Chinese New Year is the longest and most important
celebration in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese calendar
officially begins on February seventh of the Roman calendar
(the calendar most commonly used in the west). The Chinese
New Year's Eve is commonly celebrated by wearing red
clothing, posting poem written on red paper on the walls,
giving children money in red envelopes, and shooting off
fireworks.
The Chinese calendar is based on the lunar schedule and
begins on the darkest day in every cycle. Celebrations for
the Chinese New Year last from the first day of the Chinese
year until the fifteenth day when the moon is at its
fullest. In China people take off work and school for many
days before the beginning of the Chinese New Year in order
to prepare for the celebration.
The myth behind the Chinese New Year celebration is quite
interesting. According to ancient legend, Chinese people
were once tormented by a beast called a Nian - a ferocious
creature with an extremely large mouth, capable of
swallowing several people in a single bite. Deliverance from
the Nian came only when an old man tricked the beast into
disappearing. The old man did this by wearing red, shooting
off fireworks, papering the door with a red colored paper
with a poem on it, and keeping the lights on in his abode.
The villagers that had run off to escape from Nian came back
on New Year's Day and saw what the old man had done, and
China has celebrated in this manner ever since.
The year of 4706 in the Chinese calendar, or 2008 in the
Roman, is The Year of the Rat. There are twelve animals that
have been selected to represent the years in a rotating
schedule beginning with the Rat. The twelve animals are the
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 legends that accompany the twelve animals and
where they fall in the order of the year are as follows:
Legend #1: In one legend, the Lord Buddha summoned all the
animals to come and tell him goodbye before he departed from
earth. Only twelve came to bid him farewell and as a reward
he named a year after each one in the order they arrived.
Legend #2: According to another legend, many years ago
Buddha summoned all the animals to a meeting in which he
would designate the first 12 animals that arrived to be the
twelve month signs of a year. On the night before the
animals departed to see Buddha, Cat and his pal, Rat, agreed
that the one who awakened first the next morning must awaken
the other so they could travel to the meeting together.
However, Rat was ambitious and broke his promise and arrived
for the meeting alone. Then, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon,
Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig arrived
one after the other. When Cat woke up and hurried to the
meeting place, the meeting was already over. It is said that
is the reason why the cat kills rats.
Legend #3: According to another Chinese legend, the twelve
animals quarreled one day about 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. The
ox swam the fastest, and as the ox was about to jump onto
the shore, the rat jumped off the ox's back and quickly won
the race. The pig, which 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.
Those born in Rat years tend to be leaders, pioneers and
conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic,
practical and hardworking. Diana Ward, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben
Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, William Shakespeare, and Mozart
were all born in The Year of the Rat.
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All About The Holidays
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