Do you want to know which animal you could be? Find out the legendary evolutions of the Chinese New Year animals.
The Chinese New Year is an important event in the Chinese lunar calendar. Celebrations have been carried out in the most traditional manner since ages now and the festive spirit is still very much alive at present. The rare feature of the Chinese New Year is that according to the twelve year cycle, the coming of the year is related to an animal symbol significantly.
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 characteristics 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.
It is believed that the twelve year concept of the animals representing each year is deduced from the Buddhist dharma. According to the history Buddha himself summoned the animals prior to his coming to the Earth. Moreover, a competition was held amongst these animals where the animal that came first would be assigned to 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 looked like the Ox would win the race as it maneuvered through the crowd. But the ox was unaware of the fact that the clever 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.
The first year of the twelve year cycle as a resultof the race was the year of the rat as he managed to end the race in first position. This year is followed by the year of the ox as the rightly deserving animal came second unfortunately. Then the ox is followed by the rest of the animals on the basis of the position they finished the race in. the Last in the race was the pig!
If you are thinking why just twelve animals came to Buddha and why distinctly these animals then keep wondering because you will get 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.
Mandarin Chinese new year songs are a fun activity enjoyed by young and old alike. If you would like more information on Chinese new year animals click on the links herein.
