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Twelve Years Cycle And Chinese Zodiac Symbols
December 12th, 2009
The signs that make up the Chinese Zodiac calendar are images of various animals. The Chinese have been using this 12 year cycle for dating the years since ancient times. Unlike the western linear idea of time the Chinese lunar calendar represents a cyclical concept of time.
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 officially adopted the Western calendar in 1911 the lunar calendar is still used to mark traditional events and festive occasions. The Chinese New Year is one of the most prominent examples of the use of the lunar calendar in modern day China. This is the reason we find the majority of the calendars printed in China showing both the solar as well as the Chinese lunar dates.
The cyclical concept of time developed a physical representation in the form of animals according to popular folklore. An animal was assigned to each year which would be the official symbol for that year. The twelve years have twelve distinct animals with their respective traits. Since the calendar is cyclical the same animal returns every twelve years.
The animals that represented the years took on the connotation that is similar to the concept of monthly or daily horoscopes in the west. The only distinction was that the Chinese zodiac symbols determined were for the entire year. Hence people born in the year of a particular animal were believed to have the characteristics associated with that animal.
The Chinese zodiac symbols have another important meaning apart from the qualities of the person that they depict which at times may not be taken seriously.
Chinese lunar calendar is very effective in calculating the age of a person. Once you know the type of the animal to which the person belongs with a bit of intelligence and little mathematics this can be done.
You may wonder why the Chinese allocate each twelve years to twelve different animals. The ancient tales show that there was a quarrel between twelve animals as to who would control the cycle of changing years. It was decided that the first animal to reach the opposite bank of a river in a race would lead and the rest would follow as they finished the race.
As the legend goes the Ox was in the lead in the race to the opposite bank with a rat on its back. When it was about to reach the finishing line the rat being smart jumped off its back and became first to finish. Thus the months too start with rat in the lead with ox taking the second position and pig in the last.
Chinese symbolic meanings are highly profound and important to in Chinese culture. TO know more about Chinese name symbolism click on the hyperlinks.
categories: china,astrology,culture,history,tattoo,art,education,writing,language
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