The Chinese Zodiac

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The Chinese zodiac

Come Chinese New Year on the 29th January, it will be the year of the Dog according to the Chinese zodiac. How did the Chinese zodiac come about?

There is a probability that the Chinese zodiac is of northern Chinese origin but the exact origins of the twelve animal system remain unknown. One Chinese legend attributes the creation of the animal signs to the semi-mythical Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) in 2637 B.C. However the most common figure mentioned was Buddha and the Jade Emperor with the twelve animals paying homage to the Buddha and a purported race as the commonest themes.

The commonest legend involving the Buddha is about Buddha who invited all the animals to join him for New Year's Day. However only twelve animals went. As a reward he promised to name a year for each one in order of their arrival, these were the rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog and boar. This legend is by far the least credible of all explanations because the "twelve earthly branches" which correspond with the zodiac, was already in existence as early as the Zhou era, long before the advent of Buddhism.

Another version has it that Buddha invited the animals on the day he was to leave the earth and only 12 animals showed up and he named the years after them. Further variation involved the Buddha who decided to hold a competition for the animals' places in the zodiac sequence.

There are a few variations involving the Jade Emperor. One described how the Jade Emperor was bored and wanted to see the animals that inhabited the earth. He asked his advisors to bring him twelve animals. Twelve was considered to be a good sampling. So the advisor sent out invitations to the Rat (who was to bring the Cat, but jealousy got in the way of the Rat), the Ox, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Ram, the Monkey, the Rooster and the Dog. When the Emperor found out that there were only eleven animals, He sent his servant down to Earth to retrieve the twelfth animal. The servant saw a man carrying a Pig and so delivered it to the Emperor. The order of the animals were given by the Emperor.

A variation involving the Jade Emperor, which is also the most popular, is as follows. The Jade Emperor held a race to determine the fastest animals. The Emperor had decided the first 12 animals to cross the chosen river would represent the 12 earthy branches that make up the cyclical order of years on the lunar calendar. The ox agreed to let a cat and a rat -- both poor swimmers -- ride on its back during the race acros the river. The rat pushed the cat into the water and sat next to the ox's ear throughout the course of the race. Right before the ox was about to make its land, the rat jumped ashore and won the race, leaving his carrier, the ox, to place second. The cat did not place in the first 12, and it is unclear what became of it.

Whether the legends are true is anybody's guess. However what is clear is that the Chinese zodiac had been used for many thousand of years. There is even an industry evolving the Chinese zodiac and Chinese astrology. Variations of Chinese zodiacs had been seen in countries of the Far East of Korea, Japan and also the Indo-China states of Vietnam and Thailand.