The Chinese calendar has a entirely different system of dating as compared to the west. They follow a lunar calendar which shows a cycle of 12 years unlike the west where we use a linear calendar to show the time concept. As far as Zodiac calendar is concerned the Chinese use animal images to stand for each Zodiac sign.
The western calendar is guided by the sun and is called solar calendar while Chinese calendar being based on cycles of moon is called lunar calendar. When the New Year is calculated the Chinese calendar is fairly different from that of the west where they have New Year starting around the end of January and beginning of February.
By 1911 China had adopted western solar calendar but followed the lunar calendar to mark their festivals and other traditional occasions. For example Chinese still follow lunar calendar to indicate the coming of New Year. Therefore to make things simple most Chinese calendars have both lunar and solar dates.
According to popular folk lore in China each year of the recurring lunar calendar should be represented by a particular animal. For the whole year that animal will be the official sign marked for that year. There are twelve animals for twelve years with their distinctive personalities. As the lunar years are cyclical the same animal is repeated every twelve years.
Even though it was a yearly representation the animals concerned had same connotation as that of the western monthly or daily horoscope. The difference lied in the yearly representation. According to Chinese Zodiac assumption people born in a particular year will have qualities of that particular animal representing the year.
Apart from the personality traits that Chinese zodiac symbols are meant to portray which may or may not be taken seriously; they play another important function. One can use the Chinese lunar calendar to determine the age of an individual. Once you know the person's animal sign then you can easily calculate their age by using a bit of common sense and basic math.
Chinese lunar calendar is very effective in calculating the age of a person. Once you know the type of the animal to which the person belongs with a bit of intelligence and little mathematics this can be done.
As the Chinese legend goes once there was a fight between twelve animals to impose some control over the cycle of years. Finally it was decided that there would be a race of the animals in which the animal to reach the opposite bank of the river would lead and the rest would follow as they finish. Thus the practice of representing each year with one animal sign came into being.
In the race the Ox took the lead and the rat rode on the Ox's back. As the Ox almost reached the opposite bank, the rat being sly jumped off the Ox's back on the bank and got the first position. So the rat leads the cycle of year till today with the ox being the second. The last is the pig to depict the last month. - 33385
The western calendar is guided by the sun and is called solar calendar while Chinese calendar being based on cycles of moon is called lunar calendar. When the New Year is calculated the Chinese calendar is fairly different from that of the west where they have New Year starting around the end of January and beginning of February.
By 1911 China had adopted western solar calendar but followed the lunar calendar to mark their festivals and other traditional occasions. For example Chinese still follow lunar calendar to indicate the coming of New Year. Therefore to make things simple most Chinese calendars have both lunar and solar dates.
According to popular folk lore in China each year of the recurring lunar calendar should be represented by a particular animal. For the whole year that animal will be the official sign marked for that year. There are twelve animals for twelve years with their distinctive personalities. As the lunar years are cyclical the same animal is repeated every twelve years.
Even though it was a yearly representation the animals concerned had same connotation as that of the western monthly or daily horoscope. The difference lied in the yearly representation. According to Chinese Zodiac assumption people born in a particular year will have qualities of that particular animal representing the year.
Apart from the personality traits that Chinese zodiac symbols are meant to portray which may or may not be taken seriously; they play another important function. One can use the Chinese lunar calendar to determine the age of an individual. Once you know the person's animal sign then you can easily calculate their age by using a bit of common sense and basic math.
Chinese lunar calendar is very effective in calculating the age of a person. Once you know the type of the animal to which the person belongs with a bit of intelligence and little mathematics this can be done.
As the Chinese legend goes once there was a fight between twelve animals to impose some control over the cycle of years. Finally it was decided that there would be a race of the animals in which the animal to reach the opposite bank of the river would lead and the rest would follow as they finish. Thus the practice of representing each year with one animal sign came into being.
In the race the Ox took the lead and the rat rode on the Ox's back. As the Ox almost reached the opposite bank, the rat being sly jumped off the Ox's back on the bank and got the first position. So the rat leads the cycle of year till today with the ox being the second. The last is the pig to depict the last month. - 33385
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Recent years have seen a resurgence in interest when it comes to zodiac symbols from China . If you want to know about Chinese name symbols click on the hyperlinks here.
