Year of the Dragon

 Many of us in the United States grow up hearing about Chinese New Year and possibly even taking part in some of the celebrations, but what are the stories behind some of the traditions? February 10th ushers in the Year of the Dragon. Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac is powerful, endlessly energetic and full of vitality, goal-oriented yet idealistic and romantic, and a visionary leader. They know exactly who they are and possess the keenest sense of self among the 12 zodiacs of Chinese astrology. Below is the story of the origin of the Chinese Zodiac and it’s animals.

The Great Race

Long ago, in China, the Jade Emperor decided there should be a way of measuring time. On his birthday he told the animals that there was to be a swimming race. The rst twelve animals across the fast flowing river would be the winners and they would each have a year of the zodiac named after them.

All the animals lined up along the river bank. The rat and the cat, who were good friends, were worried because they were poor swimmers. Being clever they asked the strong ox if he would carry them across the river.

'Of course' said the kind ox. 'Just climb on my back and I will take you across.'

The rat and the cat jumped up and were very excited when the ox took the lead. They had almost reached the other bank when the rat pushed the cat into the water leaving him to struggle. Just as the ox was about to win the race, the rat leapt on his head and on to the bank to nish rst.

'Well done,' said the Jade Emperor to the proud rat. 'The rst year of the zodiac will be named after you.' The poor ox had been tricked into second place and the second year of the zodiac was named after him.

 

Shortly after the exhausted tiger clawed his way to the river bank to claim third place. Swimming across the river had been an enormous struggle for him against the strong currents. The Emperor was so delighted with his efforts that he named the third year after him.

Next to arrive was the rabbit, who hadn't swum across at all. He had hopped across on some stepping stones and then found a floating log which carried him to the shore.

'I shall be very happy to call the fourth year after you,' the surprised Jade Emperor explained.

Just then a kind dragon swooped down to take fifth place. The Jade Emperor asked, 'Why didn’t you win the race, when you can fly?'

'I needed to make some rain, because some people and animals needed water to drink,' the dragon explained. 'Then I saw a little rabbit on a log in the water and I blew a puff of wind so that the log would float to the river bank.'

'Well that was very kind of you. You will have the fifth year of the zodiac named after you.'

The next thing the Jade Emperor heard was the sound of the horse’s hooves. Just as he was thinking the horse would be the next animal to arrive, a sneaky snake wriggled out from around one of the horse’s hooves. The horse was so surprised that he jumped backwards giving the snake a chance to take the sixth place in the race. The poor horse had to be satisfied with seventh place.

Not long afterwards a raft arrived carrying the goat, the monkey and the rooster. They explained to the Emperor how they had shared the raft that the rooster had found. The goat and monkey had cleared weeds and pushed the raft to the shore.

The Emperor was very pleased that the animals had worked together. He said the goat would be the eighth zodiac animal, the monkey the ninth and the rooster the tenth.

 

The next animal to nish was the dog.

'Why are you so late when you are one of the best swimmers?' asked the Jade Emperor.

'The water in the river was so clean that I had to have a bath on the way,' explained the dog.

His reward was to have the eleventh year named after him.

There was one place left in the zodiac and the Emperor wondered when the last winner would come. Finally he heard a grunt from the boar.

'You took a long time to cross the river,' said the Emperor to the boar.

'I was hungry and stopped to eat,' explained the boar. 'After the meal I felt so tired that I fell asleep.'

'You have still done well,' said the Jade Emperor. 'The last year of the zodiac will be named after you.'

 

As for the cat who had been pushed into the water by the rat, he finally crawled out of the water but was too late to have a year named after him. He felt very cross with the rat and since then cats have never been friends with rats.

From that day to this the Chinese Zodiac has followed this cycle of years named after these twelve animals.

Legends of Monster Nian

In ancient times, there was a big-horned monster named "Nian" who lived at the bottom of the sea all year. But on Spring Festival Eve it would come out to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. As a result, all the people would flee from their homes to remote mountains to escape the danger each year on this day.

One Spring Festival Eve, closing the doors and windows, people in Taohua (Peach Blossom) Village were preparing to flee with all their possessions. An old beggar with a stick and a bag in his hands came to the village to seek shelter, but no one had time to care about him except for an old woman who gave him food to eat and suggested he get away from Nian.

The old beggar smiled and said: “Lady if you let me stay one night at your house, I will get rid of Nian for you.” The old woman was surprised but still tried to convince him to flee to the mountains. The old beggar just smiled without reply. Having no alternative, the old woman ran away to the mountains, leaving only the old beggar in the house.

Lighting Firecrackers 

Lighting Firecrackers

At the stroke of midnight, the monster Nian rushed into the village but immediately stopped as soon as it saw the red paper pasted on the door, all the candlelight in the house, and the old beggar dressed in red, laughing at him. Nian could only take flight with great haste at the sound of firecrackers exploding in the yard.

The next day, the villagers came back home and were very surprised to find everything in good condition. It suddenly occurred to the old woman what the old beggar had said and she told the other villagers. People then realized that Nian was afraid of the color red, loud noises, and bright light.

From then on, the way to get rid of Nian spread from mouth to mouth and quickly became prevalent. Every Spring Festival Eve, people would glue red paper with couplets written on them at the doors. They would stay up late or all night with new clothes on, to wait for the New Year's arrival, lighting lanterns and setting off firecrackers.