The 12 Animals Representing Years
(ๅไบ็”่–่ถฃ่ฐ)
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The mouse, or rat, is the first in the
circle of 12 animals representing years.
The others, chronologically, are the ox,
the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the
snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey,
the rooster, the dog and the pig.
A popular legend says that a certain god
ordered all the animals to pay him a
visit on New Yearโ€s Day, that is, the
first day of the first lunar month. He
said he would give the first 12 animals
to come the title โ€King of the Animal
Worldโ€ and let each hold the title for
one year.
When the ox heard of the
Godโ€s decree, he said to himself: โ€Itโ€s
a long journey to visit that God. I
ainโ€t a fast traveler and Iโ€d better
start early.โ€ So he set out on the eve
of the Lunar New Year. The mouse heard
the ox and jumped onto his back, without
being noticed. The ox, sweating all
over, was so glad to be the first to
arrive at the Godโ€s place. But just as
he was about to express his New Year
greetings to the God, the mouse jumped
down over the oxโ€s head and became the
first to kowtow to the God. So he was
appointed the first King of the Animals
and consequently, the first of the 12
animals to designate years. Then the 12
winners happened to be those mentioned
above.
Another theory holds that
the animals originated from the 28
constellations, or the Lunar Mansions,
which are named after animals. Every two
or three constellations stand for a
year, and the most commonly known animal
in each group was chosen for that year.
Thus we have the 12 animals.
The most convincing theory
maintains that using animals to
symbolize years began from totems of
minority peoples in ancient time.
Different tribes had different animals
as their totems. Gradually, these
animals were used as a means to remember
the years. It was adopted by the Han
people who were using the 10 Heavenly
Stems and the 12 Earthly Branches to
designate years. They took one from each
series to make a pair for one year and
developed a system based on a 60-year
cycle. Every 60 years it is back to
square one and the cycle begins again.
When the method of using
animals to represent years was
introduced into the hinterland, the
ancient Chinese married them to the 12
Earthly Branches, one to each. So 12
animals began to be used to designate
years during the Later Han of the Five
Dynasties Period a little more than 1000
years ago.
A more authentic
explanation says, the Earthly Branches
are divided into two categories: Yin and
Yang. Each of them is paired with an
animal of the same โ€genderโ€. The gender
of the animal is determined by the
number of a specific part of its body.
Odd numbers are Yang and even numbers
are Yin. The tiger, the dragon, the
monkey an the dog, all have five toes on
each foot or paw, and the horse has one
hoof. So we know they are Yang animals.
The cloven-hoofed species such as the
ox, the goat, and the pig fall into the
Yin category because their hoofs are
divided into two parts. The rooster is
also Yin since it has four toes on each
foot. The rabbit has two upper lips and
the snake has a two-point forked tongue.
So they are Yin, too. The mouse had been
a problem. It has four toes on each fore
leg and five on each hind leg. It has
both Yin and Yang qualifies and there
seemed to be no place to put it.
Fortunately, the first of the Earthly
Branches, Zi (ๅญ) , can be considered
both Yin and Yang. The Branches were
also used to designate days and hours,
and when symbolizing the hours, this
branch covers a period from eleven in
the evening to one oโ€clock in the
morning. PM is Yin and AM is Yang. So
the mouse goes together with this first
branch. It is this double-gender
feature, a kind of split personality,
you might say, that makes the little
mouse the leader among his colleagues.
Now you may be wondering
why there is no Year of the Cat,
especially since cats have been popular
as pets for thousands of years in China
as well as in many other countries.
Well, in the legend, the Cat failed to
be chosen because he was a day late
getting to the Godโ€s place. The mouse
had played a trick on him. He lied to
the Cat, telling him the wrong date for
the competition. The Cat was not pleased
and has hated the Mouse ever since.
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