#49 "A City A Story" Photo Weekly Contest #14 CHINESE NEW YEAR - Zodiac Animals Workshop in Australia 澳洲孩子的生肖灯手工作坊

File Feb 20, 23 25 13.jpeg

All content by @itchyfeetdonica, photos taken with iPhone7

Zodiac Animal Lantern Workshop

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Hey Steemit friends, in my last post about Chinese New Year, I talked about the traditional lunar calendar. As I promised, in this post, I’m talking on about another topic - Zodiac Animals.

Earlier on I realized 2018 is a year of Dog, as I noticed some Chinese app icons on my phone screen turned to dog-themed ones. So why is 2018 a Dog Year? Last weekend, I went to a Chinese New Year celebration in Caboolture by the Moreton Bay(Moreton Bay bugs anyone? ;p), north of Brisbane. There I happened to see a workshop of making zodiac animal lanterns. So I’m explaining this Chinese tradition with the story of the workshop.

You probably know that 12 zodiac animals are used to date a repeating cycle of 12 years in China. From the photo of Zodiac Wheel above that I took at the workshop, you can see the 12 animals and the birth years they represent. In order, the 12 animals are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Their order is decided by Chinese Yin and Yang Theory and perceived attributes, each with its associated Earthly Branch. The Dog is the eleventh on the list. You can find 2018 in the Dog section on the Zodiac Wheel. Since 12 is a cycle, the next Dog year will be 2030, and the following year 2019 will be the Year of the Pig.

In the workshop, kids are taught to look for their animal signs from the Zodiac Wheel according to their birth years. And they learn to write the Chinese character of that animal onto the lantern. Here are the instructions of making the Chinese New Year lanterns:

They are having fun writing Chinese and making the lanterns:

This workshop seems to be a great way to help these Australian children understand a bit about the zodiac animals in Chinese culture, and they learn it in a fun creative way by DIY their own lanterns. What do you think of this Zodiac Animal Lantern Workshop?

Chinese Zodiac Culture

There are many legends related to Chinese zodiac and the versions are varied in different regions. According to one Chinese mythology, an emperor hosted a race to select the first 12 animals that cross the river to represent the years. Just as an ox was about to win the race, a rat went ahead by leaping on his head and on to the bank. And the slow pig was the last on the list.

You may wonder why the common domestic animal cat is absent from the Zodiac list. Most historians agree that this animal list was formed before cats were introduced to China from India with Buddhism. But the cat has made it into Vietnamese zodiac cycle, so not too bad for him/her. ;)

In Madarin, the animal zodiac is called ‘shengxiao’, which literally means ‘born resembling’. Traditionally, people born in a certain year are said to have the attributes of the symbol animal. For instance, people who were born in the Dog year are said to be friendly and faithful, on the other side, they can be indecisive and pessimistic.

Besides the 12 years, the 12 zodiac animals are also associated with hours of a day in Chinese culture. Ancient Chinese divided a day into twelve periods, each 2-hour period is represented by an animal to tell the time. It starts from Rat period which is 11pm to 1am, and ends with Pig period which is 9pm to 11pm.

In ancient Chinese culture, and still in some rural regions in contemporary China, the Zodiac signs play an integral part in social life. The animal signs, together with other elements, such as palmistry, face characteristics, the five nature elements, birth month, day, and hour, can be used to tell one’s fortune, one’s compatibility with the other half in a relationship or marriage, one’s career fit, etc..

A palm reader and his Russian customers in Da Lat, Vietnam:

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It’s like the fortune telling using the system of Western Astrology, you choose to believe it or not. For me, the Chinese animal zodiac or the Western astrological sign is just a kind of interesting fun tradition. Anyway, how could people be the same just being born in the same year or same month with some similar elements? But I don’t mind it when people tell me something like ‘ Your birth animal is cool’ , or ‘Aquarius kicks ass.’ ;)

What about you? Do you believe in these Zodiac signs? Tell me what you think in the comments below! Until next time! =)