Chinese new year animal signs are a 12 year cycle used for dating the years.
They represent a cyclical concept of time, rather than the Western linear
concept of time, chinese new year animalis based on the cycles of the moon,
and is constructed in a different fashion than the western solar calendar.
In the chinese new year animal, the beginning of the year falls somewhere
between late January and early February. The Chinese have adopted the
Western calendar since 1911, but the lunar calendar is still used for festive
occasions such as the chinese new year animal .
Many Chinese calendars will print both the solar dates and the Chinese lunar
dates.
A cultural sidelight of the animal signs in Chinese folklore is that
horoscopes have developed around the animal signs, much like monthly
horoscopes in the west have been developed for the different moon signs,
Pisces, Aries, etc.
For example, a Chinese horoscope may predict that a person born in the
Year of the horse would be, cheerful, popular, and loves to compliment others.
These horoscopes are amusing, but not regarded seriously by the Chinese
people.
According to Chinese legend, the twelve animals quarreled one day
as to who was to head the cycle of years. The gods were asked to decide
and they held a contest, whoever was to reach the opposite bank of the river
would be first, and the rest of the animals would receive their years according
to their finish.
All the twelve animals gathered at the river bank and jumped in. Unknown to
the ox, the rat had jumped upon his back. As the ox was about to jump
ashore, the rat jumped off the oxs back, and won the race.
The pig, who was very lazy, ended up last. That is why the rat is the first year
of the animal cycle, the ox second, and the pig last.
Chinese astrology is
based on the astronomy and traditional calendars. The Chinese astrology
does not calculate the positions of the sun, moon and planets at the time of birth.
There is no astrology in the european sense in china.
Chinese astrology has a
close relation with Chinese philosophy and different principle to western
yin and yang, astronomy five planet, the 10 celestial stems, the 12 earthly
branches, the lunisolare calendar, the time calculation after year, month, day
and shichen.
The Chinese lunar new year is the longest chronological record in history,
dating from, when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the
zodiac. Like the western calendar, The Chinese Lunar Calendar is a yearly
one, with the start of the lunar year being based on the cycles of the moon.
This cyclical dating, the beginning of the year can fall anywhere between
late January and the middle of February. This year it falls on February
12th. A complete cycle takes 60 years and is made up of five cycles
of 12 years each.
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