4/13/2024 0 Comments Where did the zodiac come from![]() ![]() The most prevalent accompanying myth describes a race in which animals competed to be the first to reach the Jade Emperor the Emperor would name one year for each animal in the order they completed the race. The 12 Earthly Branches ordering system - which encompasses understandings of time and astrology - is prevalent in several Asian cultures, and is based on a 12-year cycle that just about lines up with the orbit of Jupiter. There are multiple histories about how the Chinese zodiac system came to be. Typically, the mat features a thick red border, and perhaps a wheel in the middle, but there are always drawings of the animals associated with the 12-year cycle, and descriptions of what your year has in store for you. Or maybe you just remember the red and gold, nearly symmetrical design on top of the placemat. Maybe you’re a noble and chivalrous Boar, or a wise but vain Snake. Regardless of whether you have any Chinese heritage or cultural connections, if you’ve ever eaten at a Chinese-American restaurant, you probably remember something about what your birth year means within the Chinese zodiac. But now, another mystical way of ordering the world was telling me the basic tenets of who I was - a Tiger person - an act of discovery achieved just by looking down while waiting for my wonton soup. Beware of the Monkey.” By the time I saw this, I think, I knew I was a Scorpio - also aggressive, also sensitive under my protective exoskeleton. “Tiger people are aggressive, courageous, candid, and sensitive,” the placemat informed me. ![]()
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