The Twelve Animal Signs

In traditional China, dating methods were cyclical means something that is repeated time after time according to a pattern. A popular folk method which reflected this cyclical method of recording years are the Twelve Animal Signs. Every year is assigned an animal name or “sign” according to a repeating cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. Therefore, every twelve years the same animal name or “sign” would reappear.

A cultural sidelight of the animal signs in Chinese folklore is that horoscopes have developed around the animal signs. For example, a Chinese horoscope may predict that a person born in the Year of the Horse would be, “cheerful, popular, and loves to compliment others."

The animal signs also serve a useful social function for finding out people's ages. Instead of asking directly how old a person is, people often ask what is his or her animal sign. This would place that person's age within a cycle of 12 years, and with a bit of common sense, we can deduce the exact age. More often, people ask for animal signs not to compute a person's exact numerical age, but to simply know who is older among friends and acquaintances.

Source:HelloMsLuo