The Chinese calendar has a special way of calculating years as compared to the west. In the west we use a linear calendar whereas in the Chinese calendar we will find a lunar calendar which has a 12 years cycle to represent the concept of time. The Chinese have been following this cyclical calendar since ancient times. Their Zodiac calendar follows the images of different animals to represent each sign.
Since the Chinese calendar is based on the cycles of the moon it is known as a lunar calendar and functions diametrically opposite to that of the western solar calendar. On comparing the Chinese New Year to the western one we find that it begins somewhere close to the end of January and beginning of February.
The modern day China still follows the lunar calendar for its traditional events and festivities though formally it had adopted the western calendar by 1911. To give an example the Chinese New Year is still celebrated as per the lunar calendar. The calendars which are printed in China today show both lunar and solar dates.
The Chinese followed the idea of accepted folk tradition of representing each year physically with some animal. A particular animal will represent a particular year. Thus twelve years show twelve different animals with their own characteristics. As the calendar is cyclic the same animals keep coming back once in every twelve years.
Even though it was a yearly representation the animals concerned had similar meaning as that of the western monthly or daily horoscope. The difference lied in the yearly representation. According to Chinese Zodiac theory people born in a particular year will have characteristics of that particular animal representing the year.
You may take the personality traits which the Chinese zodiac symbols describe seriously or not seriously but they do have another part to play.
The question is how and why the Chinese assigned these animal signs to each year. Well, there is an old legend that illustrates a quarrel between these twelve animals to rein control of the cycle of years. There was a competition to race to the opposite bank of the river and the first one to do so would be the winner whereas the rest would have to follow as they finished.
You may wonder why the Chinese assign each twelve years to twelve different animals. The ancient tales show that there was a quarrel between twelve animals as to who would control the cycle of changing years. It was decided that the first animal to reach the opposite bank of a river in a race would lead and the rest would follow as they finished the race.
In the race the Ox took the lead and the rat rode on the Ox's back. As the Ox nearly reached the opposite bank, the rat being crafty jumped off the Ox's back on the bank and got the first place. So the rat leads the cycle of year till today with the ox being the second. The last is the pig to depict the last month.
Since the Chinese calendar is based on the cycles of the moon it is known as a lunar calendar and functions diametrically opposite to that of the western solar calendar. On comparing the Chinese New Year to the western one we find that it begins somewhere close to the end of January and beginning of February.
The modern day China still follows the lunar calendar for its traditional events and festivities though formally it had adopted the western calendar by 1911. To give an example the Chinese New Year is still celebrated as per the lunar calendar. The calendars which are printed in China today show both lunar and solar dates.
The Chinese followed the idea of accepted folk tradition of representing each year physically with some animal. A particular animal will represent a particular year. Thus twelve years show twelve different animals with their own characteristics. As the calendar is cyclic the same animals keep coming back once in every twelve years.
Even though it was a yearly representation the animals concerned had similar meaning as that of the western monthly or daily horoscope. The difference lied in the yearly representation. According to Chinese Zodiac theory people born in a particular year will have characteristics of that particular animal representing the year.
You may take the personality traits which the Chinese zodiac symbols describe seriously or not seriously but they do have another part to play.
The question is how and why the Chinese assigned these animal signs to each year. Well, there is an old legend that illustrates a quarrel between these twelve animals to rein control of the cycle of years. There was a competition to race to the opposite bank of the river and the first one to do so would be the winner whereas the rest would have to follow as they finished.
You may wonder why the Chinese assign each twelve years to twelve different animals. The ancient tales show that there was a quarrel between twelve animals as to who would control the cycle of changing years. It was decided that the first animal to reach the opposite bank of a river in a race would lead and the rest would follow as they finished the race.
In the race the Ox took the lead and the rat rode on the Ox's back. As the Ox nearly reached the opposite bank, the rat being crafty jumped off the Ox's back on the bank and got the first place. So the rat leads the cycle of year till today with the ox being the second. The last is the pig to depict the last month.
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Chinese symbol meanings can be a good means of learning more about Chinese culture. If you would like to read further on Chinese dragon symbols follow the links herein.
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