This year, Chinese New Year falls in the same month as the western calendar’s New Year, so I figured I’d take advantage of this unusual stroke of coincidence by talking about some of the mythology behind the Chinese New Year.
This year marks the Year of the Rat—an animal from the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese zodiac has twelve animals: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Each is assigned to a year rather than a month. There are some similarities to the Western zodiac in that being born in the year of a certain animal is supposed to determine aspects of your personality but that’s not what I’m going to focus on. Instead, let me tell you the story of how these animals were selected.
The Jade Emperor (a Daoist deity) made a decree that he would name the years after animals in the order that they reached him. And in order to reach him, they were required to cross a river. Thirteen animals answered the challenge. The cleverest were the Rat and the Cat, but neither were very good at swimming. Both decided to take advantage of the good-natured Ox by riding on its back, who agreed to take them across out of kindness. Halfway across the river, the cunning Rat pushed the Cat off the Ox’s back and it was swept away in the current. After they arrived at the far bank, the Rat jumped off the Ox’s back and ran up to the Jade Emperor. Thus, the Rat and the Ox were the first and second animals.
Next came the Tiger. While a very powerful animal, the Tiger had been pushed downstream by the currents, delaying its arrival. Next, the Rabbit arrived. It had crossed the river by finding a spot where it could jump stone to stone. But it had slipped into the river and seized hold of a floating log, which drifted to the far bank. Fifth, was the Dragon. The Jade Emperor asked why a flying creature had taken so long to cross the river. The Dragon explained that it had stopped by a village to bring rain, and then on its way to the Emperor, it had seen the Rabbit clinging to the log. Out of compassion, it brought a gust of wind to blow the log ashore.
Then the animals turned to see the Horse galloping up. As it did so, the Snake fell out of its hoof, where it had been hiding. Startled, the Horse leapt back, allowing the Snake to slither forth and beat the Horse to the Emperor, making them the sixth and seventh animals.
Next, the Ram, Monkey, and Rooster arrived. They had worked together and made it across the river. The Rooster had found a raft, and the Ram and Monkey had pulled weeds out of the water to ease the crossing. The Ram, Monkey, and Rooster became the eight, ninth, and tenth animals respectively.
Lagging behind, the Dog came in eleventh. While it should’ve been a strong swimmer and a fast runner, it had gotten distracted by playing in the water.
Just as the Emperor was going to declare the race complete, the Pig trotted in. When asked, the Pig admitted that partway through the race, it had gotten hungry, and then fallen asleep after filling its stomach. It arrived in the nick of time.
The Cat never completed the race. Sadly, it had drowned in the river; it’s for this reason that cats hunt and kill rats and also why they hate water.
Happy Chinese New Year! May it be a prosperous Year of the Rat for you.
