Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar formed by combining a purely lunar calendar with a solar calendar. In modern times Chinese usually use the Gregorian Calendar for most day to day activities, but the Chinese calendar is still used for the dating of traditional holidays such as Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) and the Mid-Autumn Festival and in astrology, including choosing the most auspicious date for a wedding or the grand opening of a building. The primary use in day to day activities is for determining the phase of the moon, which is important for farmers and is possible because each day in the calendar corresponds to a particular phase of the month. Other traditional east Asian calendars are similar to if not identical to the Chinese calendar: the Korean calendar is identical, the Vietnamese calendar substitutes the cat for the rabbit in the twelve animals,

Twelve animals

The Twelve animals (十二生肖 shí'èr shēngxiào, or colloquially 十二屬相 shí'èr shǔxiāng) representing the twelve Earthly Branches are, in order, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep (or goat), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

Related Topics:
Earthly Branches - Rat - Ox - Tiger - Rabbit - Dragon - Snake - Horse - Sheep - Goat - Monkey - Rooster - Dog - Pig

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A legend explains the sequence in which the animals were assigned. Supposedly, the twelve animals fought over the precedence of the animals in the cycle of years in the calendar, so the Chinese gods held a contest to determine the order. All the animals lined up on the bank of a river and were given the task of getting to the opposite shore. Their order in the calendar would be set by the order in which the animals managed to reach the other side. The cat wondered how he would get across if he was afraid of water. At the same time, the ox wondered how he would cross with his poor eyesight. The calculating rat suggested that he and the cat jump onto the ox's back and guide him across. The ox was steady and hard-working so that he did not notice a commotion on his back. In the meanwhile, the rat snuck up behind the unsuspecting cat and shoved him into the water. Just as the ox came ashore, the rat jumped off and finished the race first. The lazy pig came to the far shore in twelfth place. And so the rat got the first year named after him, the ox got the second year, and the pig ended up as the last year in the cycle. The cat finished too late to win any place in the calendar, and vowed to be the enemy of the rat forevermore.

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See Chinese zodiac for more details.

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