History Of Chinese New Year Zodiac
Chinese new year also known as the lunar new year or the spring festival is the most important among the traditional chinese festivals.
History of chinese new year zodiac. The first 12 animals to cross the river would appear on the chinese zodiac calendar in the order in which they completed the race. The vietnamese zodiac varies from the chinese zodiac with the second animal being the water buffalo instead of the ox and the fourth animal being the cat instead of the rabbit. The jade emperor the emperor in heaven in chinese folklore ordered that animals would be designated as calendar signs and the twelve that arrived first would be selected.
Chinese new year has evolved over a long period of time and its customs have undergone a long development process. On that day the rat got up very early and very early and rushed to the gathering site. This is the most widespread chinese zodiac legend.
No one knows the exact date as of when the zodiac was essentially created but they were officially identified during the han dynasty 206 b c 9 a d which was over 2000 years ago. History chinese lunar calendar. The prize was a coveted position on the chinese zodiac calendar.
It s known from pottery artifacts that the animals of the zodiac were popular in the tang dynasty 618 907 a d but they were also seen much earlier from artifacts from the warring states period 475 221 b c a period of disunity in ancient chinese history as differing factions fought for control. The chinese zodiac consists of twelve animals that first appeared in the zhan guo period 5th century b c. The origin of the chinese new year festival can be traced back to about 3 500 years ago.
The tiger had some trouble crossing the river. Since 1873 the japanese have celebrated the beginning of the new year on 1 january as per the gregorian calendar. The most well known of the chinese zodiac legends states that buddha invited the animals to participate in a race.