Chinese Calendar: all about the zodiac and the animals in the calendar ~ 2 min read

Blog, China 2 Minutes
Let’s start with the following: why the date of the Chinese New Year changes every year? Short answer- the Chinese use the Lunar Calendar.

And here’s the explanation: The lunar calendar is a measure of the moon’s rotation around the earth. A year on the lunar calendar has 354 days (roughly).

The solar calendar, what we use in Europe, is a measure of the earth’s rotation around the sun. A year on the solar calendar has 365 days (roughly). You can see there is a difference in the days which the dates of different events floating.

What about the animals in the Chinese Calendar?

Depending on the year you are born in, you will have an animal “assigned” to you. The animals in the Chinese Calendar are 12 which means “your animal” will be coming when you are 12 years old, 24 years old, 36 years old .. and so on.
But why exactly these animals? 🤔
The 12 animals were chosen deliberately, after many revisions. The zodiac animals are either closely related to ancient Chinese people’s daily lives, or have lucky meanings.
The ox, horse, goat, rooster, pig, and dog are six of the main domestic animals raised by Chinese people. The other six animals: rat, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake and monkey are all loved by the Chinese people.
But wait.. it gets interesting here!

When the year of your animal comes you might be excited, looking to conquer the world! Yes! But no.. turns out it’s not like that. According to Chinese astrology, people in their zodiac year are believed to offend Tai Sui, the God of Age, and incur his curse. It is believed to bring nothing but bad luck.
But there are good news as well.. YOU CAN GET RID OF THE BAD LUCK.
One way is just to wear something RED such as socks, belt, underwear, a bracelet but you cannot buy it yourself. It must be given by family, relative or a spouse.
Why the animals are in this order?
It’s a fixed order according to Chinese Yin and Yang Theory. The yin or the yang of the animals is defined based on the odd or even number of their claws, toes or hoofs. The animals are then arranged in an alternating yin-yang sequence.
Usually an animal has the same number of claws on its front and rear legs. However the rat has four toes on its fore legs and five on its hind legs.
4+5=9, odd number (thats yang) and yang is dominant, so the Rat is classified as odd (yang) overall. Because of this difference the rat has been put as the first animal in the calendar.

Because of this difference the rat has been put as the first animal in the calendar.

Chinese Calendar animals and their connection with the hours of the day

It is widely known that each year is associated with a Chinese zodiac animal, but DID YOU KNOW that in Chinese culture the 12 zodiac animals are also associated with the hours of the day?
In ancient times, in order to tell the time, people divided a day into twelve 2-hour periods, and designated an animal to represent each period.
Even though this “hour thing” is not popular, according to Chinese astrology, a person’s personality and life is more decided by his/her birth hour than year and it is widely used for character analysis.
Watch the explanation of the Chinese Calendar, the animals, the zodiac… ⬇⬇⬇





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Published by Pavel

Explorer! Love creating meaningful content, adding value and helping others. Videographer Entertainer Traveller

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3 thoughts on “Chinese Calendar: all about the zodiac and the animals in the calendar ~ 2 min read”

  1. Great detail, CP. I didn’t know anything about this! I knew my animal, and not much more. That’s really interesting about the claw numbers, Super curious!!!

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