- BEIJING (Agence France Presse) - According to traditional Chinese astrology,
the Year of the Rabbit that began Tuesday is a good year for stability,
industriousness and practicality, with those born in that year making good
if unfaithful lovers.
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- The 1999 Year of the Rabbit is numbered
4697 in the Chinese Lunar calendar and is traditionally one in which justice
is a driving force, as is intellectual activity.
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- People born in the Year of the Rabbit
are sensitive and seek to avoid conflict but that sensitivity coupled with
a high sex drive makes them good lovers, albeit with a tendency to be
unfaithful.
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- The ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius,
who preached a rigid system of ritual and social obligations, was a Rabbit
as was scientist and thinker Albert Einstein.
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- However, Rabbits can also be overly sensitive,
touchy and suspicious, given to moodiness and unfairness at times.
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- Joseph Stalin, Napoleon, artist Michelangelo
and ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev also rank among famous Rabbits.
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- In China, couples have been rushing to
get married before the advent of the Year of the Rabbit, as it is thought
to be an inauspicious one for marriage.
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- But they will also be hoping to conceive
a child later in the year, according to recent media reports, so as to
ensure the baby is born in the momentous Year of the Dragon that follows.
( (c) 1999 Agence France Presse)
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- Chinese Astrology and the
Lunar Calendar
2-17-99
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- Chinese astrology is unconcerned with
the apparent movements of the sun and moon, but instead is based on the
60-year-cycle of the Chinese lunar calendar.
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- A lunar calendar consists of both the
Gregorian and a lunar-solar calendar system. The latter divides a year
into 12 months with each one divided into 29 and a half days.
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- Five cycles of 12 years each make up
one complete calendar cycle of 60 years: the cycle of animal years leads
to a 12-fold recurrence and the five elemental factors make up the 60 year
cycle. Chinese astrology classifies people into 12 animal groups according
to the year in which they were born.
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- The animals which represent the 12 Chinese
zodiac signs (in order) are: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake,
horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
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- During this sexagenary cycle, each animal
sign, or earthly branch, is combined with the five Chinese "elements"
-- wood, fire, metal, water and earth. Wood represents creativity and imagination;
fire represents dynamism, energy and passion; metal signifies persistence
and strength; water indicates sensitivity and persuasiveness and earth
indicates stability, industry and practicality.
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- The elemental cycle lasts for five years,
making 1999 the Year of the Wood Rabbit. In the next century, rabbit years
will fall in the Western years of 2011 and 2023.
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- The origins of the 12 animals of Chinese
astrology are unclear. One legend holds that Buddha invited all the earth's
animals to a gathering before his final departure, and these 12 were the
only animals that showed up. As a token of his appreciation, Buddha named
a year after each of them in the order in which they arrived.
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- Another legend says the Jade Emperor
held a race to determine the fastest animals. The Emperor had decided the
first 12 animals to cross the chosen river would represent the 12 earthly
branches that make up the cyclical order of years on the lunar calendar.
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- The ox agreed to let a cat and a rat
-- both poor swimmers -- ride on its back during the race across the river.
The rat pushed the cat into the water and sat next to the ox's ear throughout
the course of the race. Right before the ox was about to make it to land,
the rat jumped ashore and won the race, leaving his carrier, the ox, to
place second. The cat did not place in the first 12, and it is unclear
what became of it.
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