Chinese New Year Animal and Belief (part 1)

Summary

• Chinese New Year also refers as Spring Festival (Chun Jie).
• Chinese New Year last about 15 days, which will follow by Lantern festival.(Colored Paper Lanterns)
• If you want to visit China this time, try to go 2 or 3 weeks before the festival start. During this time, transportation is chaos.
• The twelve Chinese New Year animal are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragons, snake, horse, sheep (ram, goat), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
• Traditionally, Chinese girls that are born in the year of the horse is consider being bad luck. However, this point of view gradually changes in the modern day.
• The reason for all three animals (sheep, ram, and goat) put in the same category is that the Chinese character of sheep represents for all three animals.
• Baby born in the year of the pig consider being the luckiest baby.
• Chinese people believe that if the New Year animal is the same with the year you are born (ex. You born in the year of the ox, and 2009 is the year of the ox), then there will be lot of life changing events happen to you.
• Fish is the symbol on Chinese New Year, because it represents abundance and wealth.

Chinese New Year vs. Spring Festival

New Year is about to start, I think this is the most appropriate article to write about. New Year for Chinese people is like Christmas to the West. This is the most decorate holiday for China, matter of fact, all of Asian countries as a whole. Commonly, Chinese New Year refers as "Chun Jie" or Spring Festival.

In China, the people called this day as Spring Festival and not Chinese New Year. So, if you are a tourist during this time, know that Spring Festival and Chinese New Year are use interchangeable. However, to make it easier to understand, I will use the word "Chinese New Year" more often.

The custom for Chinese New Year is the celebration will last about 15 days, which normally occur around the end of January and beginning of February. Lantern Festival will begin right after that. Spring Festival is the most important holiday in China.

And if you want to be a part of the holiday, you should come to China about 2 or 3 weeks before the Spring Festival start. During this time, transportations will be chaotic.

Now, everyone knows about the twelve Chinese zodiacs already, so I will not go in deep with it. However, I do want to mention it briefly, and they are: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragons Chinese Paper Dragon Decorations, snake, horse, sheep (ram, goat), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

And the winner is...

Let me ask you a question though, do you know why the order of the animal as the way it is? Well, it started in heaven, when Buddha invite all the animal to a banquet, and which twelve animals come first will have a year name after. As you see from the list; the rat arrives first, ox is the second, and so on.

You may ask why the rat comes first when it is the smallest animal from the list. The legend tells that; when the animals about to reach the finish line, the rat jumps on top the ox nose.

Once the ox about cross the finish line; the rat reaches its body in front of the ox's nose. And, that is how the rat wins the race.

There also are a couple of things relate to the animals that you may want to know. First, traditionally the Chinese people consider a girl born in the year of the Horse is bad luck, but this point of view is gradually changing in the modern society.

In Chinese culture, the horse represents wild, hard head, free life, which all the qualities that a girl not suppose to possess.

Second, the reason all three animals (sheep, ram, and goat) put in the same category is that the Chinese character of sheep represents all three animals. So, if you get a calendar with a goat rather than the sheep, don't worry, you are not getting the wrong calendar.

Lastly, a baby that is born in the year of the Pig considers being the luckiest animal of them all. Pig represents fat, healthy, and riches in China culture. So, be proud if you are born in the year of the pig.

There is one superstitions is widely believe in China. When the New Year's animal is the same with the one that you born in, then you should be careful. Let look at an example. If you are born in the year of the ox, and the New Year is the year of an ox, then this is your year.

Everyone said that when this year coming around, there will be some big changes in your life. It either could be really good or it could be really bad.

True life story...

Let take me for example, the year of 2008 is the year of the rat, which is my year. Start in 2008;

• I graduated from my college (big change). Cost = a lot of money
• Go out to work in the real world, I got scammed... twice. I did not know that scams can happen in workplace (big change and eye opening). Cost = also a lot of money
• Try to be entrepreneur, but fail dozens of times. Cost = a lot of time
• Filling-up the knowledge of life, starting on this website, and did not give up. PRICELESS
• For anything else, there is culture-4-travel.com.

Think back. Did any life changing event happen when you are 11-12, 23-24, or 35-36 years old? Good and bad.

Fish, even though is not on the list with the other twelve animals, however, it is a symbol for Chinese New Year. The meaning of fish is abundance and plenty. You will find image of fish on almost every New Year cards and red packets, the meaning stands for plenty of money and wealth. You can also pick up some Red Packets here.

Now, you have a basic understanding of the Chinese New Year animal. You can click here, to go to the next page the learn about Chinese New Year customs.

Thank you for joining me today. Please check back for future updated. From where I am and wherever you are, have a warm holiday and good luck, everybody.

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