Chinese Zodiac

More than 3, 500 years ago, our ancestors invented the 10 tian gan (heavenly stems) and 12 di zhi (earthly branches) for chronological purposes.

The signs are used to designate the hours, days, months and years. However, since most people at that time were illiterate, the signs were

difficult to use. Later, to make things easier to memories, people used animals to symbolize the 12 earthly branches. The animals in order are the

mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

Many Chinese people strongly believe that the time of a person's birth is the primary factor in determining that person's personality.

Why these signs are named after these animals but not other? According to Chinese legend, during a Chinese New Year celebration. Buddha

invited all the animals to his kingdom, but unfortunately, for reasons only known to the animals, a total of 12 turned up. The mouse was naturally

the first, followed by the ox, then the tiger, the rabbit and so on and finally the pig. Out of gratitude, Buddha decided to name the year after each of

the animals in their order of arrival, and people born of that year would inherit some of the traits of that particular animal. These animals are also

supposed to have some influence over the period of time they were named after.