the chinese years of the animals

8/3/2019 The Chinese Years of the Animals

1/9

The Chinese Years of theAnimals

This is the story of how each

year got its name, and it also

explains why there is no year of

the cat, and why cats hate rats

so much.

Animal Astrology

1996, 2008 Year of the RatRats are ambitious and very

focused on their goals, but theyare also fun and love gossip.

1985, 1997, Year of the OxOxes are loyal, dependable,determined, and perhaps a bit

suborn.1986, 1998 Year of the TigerTigers fight tooth and claw forwhat they want- but they alsohave a sensitive side.


2/9

1987, 1999 Year of the RabbitRabbits are diplomatic, honest,

kind, and stick to agreements.1988, 2000 Year of the DragonDragons bring good luck so itsgreat to have one as your friend.

1989, 2001 Year of the SnakeSnakes are lovely, charming andperceptive.

1990, 2002 Year of the HorseHorses are bursting with energy

and fun.1991, 2003 Year of the Sheep(Goat)Sheep love a quiet life, and arepeaceful easy-going souls.

1992, 2004 Year of the MonkeyMonkeys are lively, clever andfull of pranks


3/9

1993, 2005 Year of the RoosterRoosters are extrovert and love

to strut their stuff1994, 2006 Year of the DogDogs are kind, loyal, loving, andgood listeners.

1995, 2007 Year of the PigPigs are great fun, really enjoylife, and love their friends andfamily.

chineseyears.mp3

Duration 6.11

One day, the Lord Buddha calledall the animals to a meeting. He

told them that he had decided topick the 13 most faithfulanimals, and reward each ofthem with their own year.

As soon as the animals heardthis, they began to quarrel


4/9

among themselves about whoshould have the honour of the

first year, the second, the third,and so on.

The Buddha decided to settlethis squabble with a contest. Hegathered the 13 animals on the

bank of a gushing river, and toldthem that they must swimacross to the other side. Thefirst to arrive would have thehonour of the first year, and the

second to arrive would have thesecond, and in this way, theorder of all the years would bedecided.

The night before the contest, the

rat went to see is best friend thecat to discuss the race. Theyboth agreed that the contest asunfair to them, as both of themhated water, and neither werestrong swimmers.


5/9

So the pair went to see the Oxwho was very large and a strong

swimmer. He was also extremelygood natured, and he agreed tocarry the rat and the cat on hisback.

The next morning, most of the

animals were up early in time tosee the dawn spread her rosyfingers across the river. Theylimbered up for the race, andvery noisy about it they were too

! The Ox looked round for hisfriends, but he could not catchsight of the cat or the rat. So hestood by the bank of the riverand was about to jump in with agreat splash when the pairsprang out of the reeds andlanded on his back. In this way,they set off into the deep,swirling waters of the river.Fortunately the Ox was powerful

enough to swim across the


6/9

current without any trouble, andsoon the far bank was in sight.

The cat crouched on the Oxshead and swished his tail. Therat could see that his friend wasgetting ready to leap onto thebank ahead of them and takethe first prize. He became socross about this, that he pushedthe cat into the water. Then hehimself jumped onto the bankand won the honour of the firstyear for himself.

The Ox lumbered on, reachedthe bank just after the rat, andthe second year was namedafter him. The Tiger was like abig cat, and hated water, but hehad powerful muscles andmanaged to come in third. Hewas followed by the rabbit whoalthough he hated getting hisears wet was very determined,

and was helped by the dragon.


7/9

The dragon was very concernedabout the water getting into his

nose and putting out his fire, buthe managed to keep his headabout water and took the firthyear.

The horse was about to come in

sixth, but he reared back toavoid stepping on the snake whoslithered in just ahead of him. Sothe snake was sixth and thehorse was seventh.

Next came a raft with the sheep,monkey and the rooster whotook the eighth, ninth and tenthplaces.

Quite a while later, the dogpaddled ashore and shookhimself so that he sprayed allthe others who had justmanaged to get dry. The dogtook the eleventh year .


8/9

Finally, after a long, long time,the pig finally made it to the

bank. He had slept in late, andonly just made it to become the12th animal of the ChineseZodiac.

And what became of the cat? He

was swept downstream by thestrong current of the river, andhe very nearly drowned.Eventually, he was washed uponto the bank where they had all

started, and he shivered andshook with cold and rage. And sothere are 12, not 13 years in theChinese calendar, and there isno year named after the cat. Andif youve ever wondered whycats hate rats so much now youknow !

And thats the story of how theChinese years and signs of theZodiac came to be named after


9/9

12 animals. What year were youborn in?

the chinese years of the animals

Documents