Want to know what animal you are? Find out the historical origins of the Chinese New Year animals.
The occasion of Chinese New Year is without a doubt considered to be the most prominent 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 follows a twelve year cycle and hence repeats. According to their present status, the next year should be the year of the Ox. The ancient philosophers of China have done a research on the behavior of the animals and have drawn a similarity between their personality traits and human nature.
Thereby if any person is born on the year of a certain animal he is supposed to bear resemblance to the nature of the animal of that particular year. Any individual who has taken birth in the year of the ox is bound to have decent organizational skills and they are considerably dependable and loyal. Also such people are patient and strong.
The concept behind the twelve year cycle with these animals symbolizing each year was taken from the Buddhist dharma. Ancient history records that it was Buddha himself who summoned all these animals before he himself descended to Earth. Then a race was held between these animals where the victorious one would be responsible for 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 looked like the Ox would win the race as it maneuvered through the crowd. But the ox was unaware of the fact that the cunning rat was sitting on his back all through the race and when he came close to the ending line, the rat jumped off his back and became the winner.
thus, we will see that the first year of the twelve year lunar cycle is the year of the rat as he cleverly managed to come first in the race and then it is followed by the year of ox as the hardworking animal secured second place. The ox is then followed by the rest of the animals in order of the positions they secured with pig having the last position.
If you are thinking 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.
The occasion of Chinese New Year is without a doubt considered to be the most prominent 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 follows a twelve year cycle and hence repeats. According to their present status, the next year should be the year of the Ox. The ancient philosophers of China have done a research on the behavior of the animals and have drawn a similarity between their personality traits and human nature.
Thereby if any person is born on the year of a certain animal he is supposed to bear resemblance to the nature of the animal of that particular year. Any individual who has taken birth in the year of the ox is bound to have decent organizational skills and they are considerably dependable and loyal. Also such people are patient and strong.
The concept behind the twelve year cycle with these animals symbolizing each year was taken from the Buddhist dharma. Ancient history records that it was Buddha himself who summoned all these animals before he himself descended to Earth. Then a race was held between these animals where the victorious one would be responsible for 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 looked like the Ox would win the race as it maneuvered through the crowd. But the ox was unaware of the fact that the cunning rat was sitting on his back all through the race and when he came close to the ending line, the rat jumped off his back and became the winner.
thus, we will see that the first year of the twelve year lunar cycle is the year of the rat as he cleverly managed to come first in the race and then it is followed by the year of ox as the hardworking animal secured second place. The ox is then followed by the rest of the animals in order of the positions they secured with pig having the last position.
If you are thinking 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.
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Chinese new year animals are symbols with deeper meanings . If you want to read about how to give the traditional Chinese new year greeting click on the preceding links.
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