According
to the Chinese Lunar Calender, the Chinese Zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao (生肖), is based on a twelve year cycle, each year in that cycle related to
an animal sign.
The twelve
animal signs that the Chinese uses to predict people's fortune are Rat, Cow,
Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog and Pig.
And the
year 2014 is Horse Year (马年) for the
Chinese. The Year of the Horse starts from January 31, 2014 (the Lunar New Year
/ Spring Festival of China) and will lasts till Feb. 18, 2015.
According
to Chinese beliefs, horse is a sign of speedy success besides being a symbol of
traveling. Chinese wouldn't let horse do the farm work. Instead, all the
farmland jobs go to the ox. This is because Chinese have higher expectation on
horses. Horses can help humans win battles and wars. Sitting on the horse back
implies that the person is from noble or higher ranking family.
There are
many stories and legends that narrate how these animals were selected to
represent each of the twelve years. More on the stories in the next blog :-)
Anyway, Happy Chinese New Year to everybody.
No comments:
Post a Comment