12 symbolic animals of the year

    China is a country that has more than five thousand years history. Our ancestors have developed tons of different traditions in our culture. There is one interesting thing in our culture about birthday which many of the foreigners don't really know.And this is called the symbolic animal of the year.

   The symbolic animal of the year is a whole system about birth year that developed a long time ago before the Qin dynasty. In the Han dynasty, there was evidence shows that the whole symbolic animal of the year system is completely formed. This whole system actually came from the belief in nature and respect to animals. It relates with marriage, characteristics, and even destiny. Different animals represent different characters of people, even about the relationships between people. There are counter or corporate relationships among different animals. This whole system was becoming more and more important and it plays a huge role in our culture even in the modern time. 

There are twelve different animals in the system and this is considered as a complete cycle. The first one is Mouse, then the rest in order are caw, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and the last one is pig. So, when it comes to the year of pig, the next one will be mouse again, and just keep repeating in this order. I was born in the year of caw so my animal was caw. The last year of caw was in 2009, I was 12 years old at that time. This year is 2016, so it is the year monkey, and the next caw year will be 2021. The year of caw is my destiny year because it is the same of my symbolic animal. The tradition in our culture is that you will wear some red clothes or any red decorations in order to bring you good luck. You will have a better chance in your own year no matter what you do. 

              http://baike.baidu.com/subview/11006/8831393.htmfromtitle=%E5%B1%9E%E7%9B%B8&fromid=1948391&type=syn

As you can notice, there are 12 animals in a cycle. We all know that there 12 hours in a day in ancient China, 12 months in a year, 12 different festival in a year. These are not just accident. The 12 animals actually come from the ancestors’ observation of nature. They observe, record and then summarize, and then figured out the number 12. 

     Why is this symbolic animals’ system so important in Chinese culture from the past until now? Well, the answer is that it is not only a tradition and a symbol of birthday but also it is a cultural event that can bring people together to celebrate and recognize themselves as Chinese. This symbolic system is very special, it is unique in the Chinese culture, it originates in the ancient Chinese culture. People think that each animal stands for different personalities and sometimes they even match up marriage base on the animals. Maybe this is not the biggest factor to affect people’s decision, but it is definitely something worth to think about.

      Tell me about what is your opinion or feeling about the 12 symbolic animals of the year, do you want to know what is yours? leave some comments below and I will answer them!