The legend goes that one day Buddha called all the animals in creation to him and promised them a reward if they would come. He cant have held any illusions, as only twelve animals took his invitation up. First the rat appeared, then one after another the buffalo, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and finally the good old pig. Buddha gave each animal a year as a present, and named it after him. So the rat got the first, the buffalo the second etc and the pig finally got the twelfth year. They all declared themselves in agreement. So since then every year has been marked by the characteristics of one of the twelve animals. Not only those people born in that year, but the whole year itself with all that happens in it are under the influence of the ruling animal.
It is also said that the hours of the day are also dependent on the animal signs, and indeed in the twelve hours between midnight and midday to a growing extent, and between midday and midnight to a decreasing extent. The day has its favourable and unfavourable hours for every individual, and so their birth hour can be very significant, according to which year they were born in.
So much for the legend.

The animal signs of the Asiatic countries are dependent on the moon, or more precisely on the moon year, in contrast to our star signs, which are determined by the sun and the planetary constellations. So let us forget the stars and ask ourselves “Were we born in a lucky moon year?”
A moon year contains twelve months or moons, each of which has exactly thirty days. So the Asiatic New Year never falls on the same day. The cycle is divided into twelve periods of a year each (not into months like ours) and the order is always the same.
Every year is under the sign of an animal, which determines the fate and character of people born in this period of time. The symbolism of these signs is vivid and realistic and is expressed in easy to understand pictures: the rat is going into a trap, the buffalo is slaving away on the paddy fields, the tiger is a wild hunter, the cat always lands on her feet, the dragon spouts gold and sparks, the snake is wise, the horse is proud, the goat bleats and pulls on its rope, the monkey plays tricks, the rooster pecks in the sand, the dog guards the house and the pig is good natured and naïve.
We too recognise that the moon influences our actions and our mood, Fortune tellers, doctors, gardeners and hairdressers (who recommend cutting hair at the time of the New Moon) confirm this. We cannot explain this phenomenon scientifically. The significance of the Asiatic animal signs has been handed down for hundreds of years. The interpretations are based upon traditions that are still alive in China, Vietnam and Japan.
In Asia the animal signs are given such significance that no one does anything without considering them. Personal, financial or political decisions depend on them totally. If two people fall in love but their animal signs produce an unlucky combination, their parents will use every means to prevent a marriage. The same applies to the choice of business partners, work colleagues and even to friendships.

he Year of the Fire Horse for example is meant to be unlucky for births, and so in 1966 many women had their pregnancies terminated so as not to give birth to a Fire Horse.
Furthermore in this astrology or should we say Lunology? there are amazing connections and coincidences. According to which year you were born in, you will be strong or weak, crafty or naïve, aggressive or peaceable, ambitious or modest. Of course from the moment of birth everyone will develop differently according to surroundings and means, or the favourable or unfavourable animal signs of their parents…
But whether you are a lap dog or a street cur, a riding horse or a carthorse, a house cat or a roaming tomcat, the essential characteristics are always the same and so is your fate.
Moreover it is said that the seasons, the month and the hour of your birth, even the weather all exert a profound influence. In any case those born on New Years Day will have more marked characteristics and greater chances of success.
New Years Day is a great festival, when jumping jacks are hung under the highest doorframe and on the largest tree to chase away evil spirits from the house. Popular belief tells that everything that happens to us on this day is significant for the whole year. So it is advisable not to work too much, not to quarrel, to avoid ones creditors and if possible to keep out of the way of the guardians of law and order.
As already explained, the Asiatic New Year does not fall at the same time as ours. It depends on the phases of the Moon, the seasons and the changing months. The year begins with January or February and whoever is born in these months has the animal sign of either the preceding or the new year. For the other months the year of birth is used.

Chinese astrology, the art of telling fortunes, character and the fate of an individual, not by the months as we do, but by the moon year, is already 5000 years old. The French writer of fables, Lafontaine (1621-1691) rewrote the previously told legend thus: “Je me sers danimaux pour instruire les hommes”. (“I use animals to teach mankind”). And he was certainly right. It is astonishing how much there is in common in the characters of people born in the same year. So why shouldnt the Chinese astrologers theory, that every twelve years similar types of people are born, be correct?
The Buddha legend of the origin of the twelve animal signs sounds fantastic, yet the truth it contains can be shown in the history of ancient Chinese astrology. Before the switch to the number twelve there were actually twenty seven pictures in the moon animal zodiac, who in turn derived from the thirty six pictures of the leaders of the star army who according to the ancient Chinese fortune tellers each had an animal allocated to them. It was only with the switch from the moon year to our sun year that from the twenty-seven moon signs, there developed the twelve animal signs that were mentioned above.
Of course Chinese astrologers dont make calculating their horoscopes that easy for themselves. They do indeed draw on the theory of good and bad years for individual types of people in the Chinese animal zodiac in their calculations, but they also have more precise indicators to hand. There are the five elements, water, metal, fire, wood and earth, which in this order stand for the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. They exert just as much influence on the fate of the individual as the ten signs of heaven, which result from Yang, the Sun, and Yin, the Moon, as well as from observation of the stellar constellations. Double weeks and double hours of birth draw the circle as tightly as in the customary western astrology, which uses the position of the planets and the ascendant at the time of birth.
Chinese star readers and fortune tellers can find all of this in thick reference books.
All a game? Certainly not. The Chinese have developed this “game” to perfection over 5000 years. Over the centuries their art of fortune telling has been improved with scientific precision so that Chinese astrology today by means of the extensive reference works can predict the fate of an individual with a probability bordering on certainty. When drawing up their horoscopes they also take into account what is known as everlasting horoscope as a general line for the individual animal signs.
You may or may not believe in it, but a look into Chinese astrology is entertaining and very interesting. And there have been many people who were formerly sceptical about this type of “superstition” as they perhaps called it, but later had to concede that there is a strange similarity between the character traits of those people who were born under the same particular animal sign.

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