Cantonese New Year Animals And Their Origin

Let us fin out what animal we are and the ancient history that led to the 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 same 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 similitude with 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 good organizational skills and they are considerably reliable and loyal. Also such people are patient and strong.

The concept behind the twelve year cycle with these beasts 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 between these animals where the victorious one would be responsible for the first year.

The race began with heavy contesting between the animals. The cunning 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 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.

Hence, 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 claimed with pig having the last position.

If you are thinking where these stories have come from and why just twelve animals were called by Buddha, then be prepared to get no answers 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.

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