New Year Animal Symbols And Celebrations

Want to know what animal you are? Find out the legendary origins of the Chinese New Year animals.

In the Chinese lunar calendar, the New Year is supposed to be the most important festival. Traditional revelations have been ongoing for years and the similar festive spirit is still alive even today. The unique characteristic is however the twelve year cycle that links the approaching year with an animal symbol.

The Chinese New Year animal reappearsevery twelve years. According to their present standing the next year should be the year of the Ox. The ancient philosophers of China studied the behavior of the animals in the calendar and drew a semblance with their personality traits and human nature.

You may consider the fact that the Chinese feel the person born on a particular animal year will have parallel characteristics of the animal. If you are born in the year of ox then you will have good skill for organizing while loyalty and dependability will be your big assets. Ox is also known to be strong and patient.

The concept behind the twelve year cycle with these animals symbolizing each year was taken from the Buddhist dharma. Ancient history states that it was Buddha himself who summoned all these animals before he himself descended to Earth. Then a race was held amongst these animals where the victorious one would be responsible for the first year.

When the race began, the competition was challenging. The act of betrayal was seen in the rat who made a deal with the cat but eventually didn't keep his word. All along the race it looked like the ox would win as he meanderedthrough the crowd but little did he know that the rat was riding on his back all through the race and just when the ox was about to finish the race first, the rat leaped off his back and claimed the first position.

Hence we find that the first year of the twelve year cycle is the year of the rat because he succeeded to finish the race in first place, by hook or by crook. The year of the ox follows the rat as the hard laboring animal came in at second place. The ox is then followed by the rest of the animals according to the order in which they finished. The cycle ends with the pig!

If you are wondering why just twelve animals came to Buddha and why distinctly these animals then keep wondering because you will find no answers to these questions! The fact of the matter is that this is an ancient tradition which has been kept alive up till today and is deeply embedded in the Chinese culture. As a token of appreciation for their coming Buddha apparently assigned a year to each of the animals and that's the way the legend has it.

Chinese new year zodiac animals are a great means of introducing the festival to children. If you want to know about other fun activities for Chinese new year follow the hyperlinks.