Year of the Rat

What's With the Rat?

I recently started a professional blog on mythology, and it's now my job to report on "all the myth that's fit to print"!

So when the Chinese New Year came up last Thursday, the question arose: why do they call it the Year of the Rat? What's with the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac?

I haven't studied Chinese mythology as I have European and African traditions, so it was time to get myself educated. In the process, I discovered an amusing myth!

The Chinese Zodiac

But let me back up. Most people have heard of the Chinese Zodiac, but let's make sure we're on the same page -- or placemat, considering where most of us non-Chinese first heard of it.

Unlike the ecliptic-based Zodiac found in western horoscope columns, where the intervals for each sign are about a month long, Chinese astrological signs are assigned to years. But just like the 12-month Zodiac, people born under the same sign of the Chinese Zodiac supposedly share certain personality traits and skills.

The twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac are:

Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig (or Boar, which sounds a little better).

Chinese Astrology: The Elements

Just to be more complicated, the Chinese also assign an element to each year. They have five elements: metal, water, wood, fire and earth. Each element spans two years, the first with male (yang) energy and the second with female (yin) energy.

This means that every sixty years, the same animal, metal, and yin/yangness all come into synch. For some reason there's a lot of fanfare about the Year of the Fire Horse (always yang), and when I was a child I was always deeply wistful that I had been born in the Year of the Fire Horse instead of the Pig.

But back to the Rat.

The Rat Race

Why twelve signs of the Zodiac?

Why does green mean go and not blue? Why are hot dogs sold in eights and buns in six or twelve (oh, right, to make you buy more of one when the other runs out)? Why do the British drive on the other side of the street? For most of these there's no real reason -- except for the Hot Dog Question -- but mythology comes to the aid of our perplexity by providing a fun story.

Note: living myths are never told the same way twice, so I may have thrown in a few non-traditional details. See links at the bottom of this Intel to compare. ;)

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Once upon a time the Jade Emperor (or Buddha, in more PC versions), decided that a twelve-sign Zodiac would be handy. But which animals to choose?

Not roach, obviously, because diners wouldn't want to see it on a placemat. Aye aye would look a little silly, and besides that he was only found in Madagascar. And no one except Ben Franklin would want to be born in the Year of the Turkey.

That still left a lot of ecosystem.

So the Jade Emperor summoned all the animals one day, and told them his wise plan. He would cross to the far side of the river. When they saw his signal, they would swim across. The first twelve animals to reach the shore would be the winners, and he'd assign them to the wheel of years in the order that they crossed the finish line.

All the animals were eager to get some name-brand merchandising, so they were game to play. They started lining up on the bank.

Rat and Cat, who were old friends and had arrived at the gathering together, realized the odds were not in their favor. Both were clever animals, and they quickly hatched a plan between them. Horse's chances were good, they realized, but old Ox, who lumbered through rivers easily, had more endurance, and besides that, he was dumb as an ox.

So they scampered over to ask him for a lift. He'd probably get first place, they said, but would he mind sharing? If they rode on his back, they would get second and third.

Ox was willing enough, so the two friends jumped aboard just as the Jade Emperor raised his hand to start the race.

Halfway across, however, Rat's ratty nature got the better of him, and he shoved his friend Cat into the water. As you may have noticed, Cat has never really forgiven him, and dislikes water to this day.

On the far side, Rat scurried to the end of Ox's horn and hopped to the bank first -- or, by some accounts, nipped his tail while holding onto it, and got flung the last yard or so. So Rat cheated his way onto the first year of the Chinese Zodiac, and Ox came in second.

Various other animals straggled after, and each had various adventures. Some were late because they were too generous -- Chinese dragons are known for their blessings, and this one was busy helping other animals. Some had to stop to take a bath (dog), while others didn't care about being first, so they took their own sweet time (pig). Snake stowed away in horse's hoof. At last twelve animals had reached the Jade Emperor, and we celebrate them to this day.

So that's why we have the Year of the Rat. I'll have to get back to you later on why Fortune Cookies taste like sugared cardboard.