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

The event of Chinese New Year is without a doubt considered to be the most important event in the Chinese lunar calendar. The traditional celebrations have been going on for years and the festive spirit is pretty much alive even today. The unique characteristic of the Chinese New Year is however the twelve year cycle that associates the coming of the year with an animal symbol.

The Chinese New Year animal repeatsevery twelve years. According to their current 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 similitude 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.

It is believed that the twelve year concept of the animals representing each year is deduced from the Buddhist dharma. According to the legend Buddha himself called the animals prior to his coming to the Earth. Moreover, a competition was held amongst these animals where the animal that came first would be assigned to the first year.

The race began with heavy contesting between the animals. The sly rat after making a deal with the cat decided to cheat. All the while it seemed like the Ox would win the race as it maneuvered through the crowd. But the ox was unaware of the fact that the clever rat was sitting on his back all through the race and when he came close to the finishing line, the rat jumped off his back and became the winner.

The first year of the twelve year cycle as a consequenceof the race was the year of the rat as he managed to finish the race in first position. This year is followed by the year of the ox as the rightly deserving animal came second unfortunately. Then the ox is followed by the rest of the animals on the basis of the position they finished the race in. the Last in the race was the pig!

If you are thinking where these stories have come from and why just twelve animals were summoned by Buddha, then be prepared to get no replies for these questions! This is because, it is an archaic Chinese traditional belief which has been kept alive till date and it is a strong part of the culture. Buddha was greatly moved by the twelve animals who took part in the race and to show his appreciation he assigned a year each to these animals.

Tags: Asia

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