History Of Chinese Calendar And Zodiac Symbols
The Chinese calendar has a different way of calculating years as compared to the west. In the west we apply 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.
You will discover that the functioning of Chinese calendar is absolutely opposite to that of western calendar. Western calendar is called solar calendar because it follows the sun whereas Chinese follow the moon's progress and is called lunar calendar. The Chinese New Year too starts around end of January and beginning of February.
even though China formally adopted the Western calendar in'11 the lunar calendar is still used to mark traditional events and festive occasions. The Chinese New Year is one of the most important examples of the use of the lunar calendar in modern day China. This is the reason we see the majority of the calendars printed in China showing both the solar as well as the Chinese lunar dates.
The Chinese followed the idea of popular folk custom of representing every year physically with some animal. A particular animal will represent a particular year. Thus twelve years show twelve different animals with their own qualities. 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 connotation 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.
Apart from the personality traits that Chinese zodiac symbols are supposed to portray which may or may not be taken seriously; they play another important function. One can use the Chinese lunar calendar to determine the age of an individual. Once you know the person's animal sign then you can easily calculate their age by using a bit of common sense and basic math.
The issue is how and why the Chinese assigned these animal signs to each year. Well, here 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.
As the Chinese legend goes once there was a struggle between twelve animals to enforce some control over the cycle of years. Finally it was decided that there would be a race of the animals in which the animal to reach the opposite bank of the river would lead and the rest would follow as they finish. Thus the practice of representing each year with one animal sign came into being.
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 position. 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.
You will discover that the functioning of Chinese calendar is absolutely opposite to that of western calendar. Western calendar is called solar calendar because it follows the sun whereas Chinese follow the moon's progress and is called lunar calendar. The Chinese New Year too starts around end of January and beginning of February.
even though China formally adopted the Western calendar in'11 the lunar calendar is still used to mark traditional events and festive occasions. The Chinese New Year is one of the most important examples of the use of the lunar calendar in modern day China. This is the reason we see the majority of the calendars printed in China showing both the solar as well as the Chinese lunar dates.
The Chinese followed the idea of popular folk custom of representing every year physically with some animal. A particular animal will represent a particular year. Thus twelve years show twelve different animals with their own qualities. 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 connotation 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.
Apart from the personality traits that Chinese zodiac symbols are supposed to portray which may or may not be taken seriously; they play another important function. One can use the Chinese lunar calendar to determine the age of an individual. Once you know the person's animal sign then you can easily calculate their age by using a bit of common sense and basic math.
The issue is how and why the Chinese assigned these animal signs to each year. Well, here 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.
As the Chinese legend goes once there was a struggle between twelve animals to enforce some control over the cycle of years. Finally it was decided that there would be a race of the animals in which the animal to reach the opposite bank of the river would lead and the rest would follow as they finish. Thus the practice of representing each year with one animal sign came into being.
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 position. 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 zodiac signs are not the same as those utilized in western astrology. To know more about Chinese symbols please click on the links.