A legend explains the 12 animals chosen:
Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he departed from earth. Only twelve came and as a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived.
Note that there is more than one way to translate each animal into English: pig is also boar, snake is also serpent, sheep is also ram, rabbit is also hare.
On which year was I born?
The following is a table of years from 1924 (assuming nobody here is older than that) to 2019 (if it is now past 2019, /msg me or my next of kin, and we'll update it):
Rat 1924 1936 1948 1960 1972 1984 1996 2008
Ox 1925 1937 1949 1961 1973 1985 1997 2009
Tiger 1926 1938 1950 1962 1974 1986 1998 2010
Rabbit 1927 1939 1951 1963 1975 1987 1999 2011
Dragon 1928 1940 1952 1964 1976 1988 2000 2012
Snake 1929 1941 1953 1965 1977 1989 2001 2013
Horse 1930 1942 1954 1966 1978 1990 2002 2014
Sheep 1931 1943 1955 1967 1979 1991 2003 2015
Monkey 1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 2004 2016
Rooster 1933 1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005 2017
Dog 1934 1946 1958 1970 1982 1994 2006 2018
Boar 1935 1947 1959 1971 1983 1995 2007 2019
What does each animal mean?
Here is a short outline of the main characteristics of each animal:
- Rat people are ambitious, thrifty, hardworking and charming.
- Ox people are stubborn, hate failure, and are quiet but alert.
- Tiger people are short tempered, and yet plan carefully. They are compassionate and sensitive.
- Rabbit people are talented and ambitious, but tend to be sad. They are also lucky (does Rabbit's foot come from similar origins?)
- Dragon people are gentle and kind hearted, but also stubborn and short-tempered.
- Snake people are graceful, sympathetic and wise.
- Horse people are cheerful and talkative. They are also talented and wise.
- Sheep people are shy, pessimistic, elegant and wise.
- Monkey people are creative, talented, aloof and strong-willed.
- Rooster people are determined, bold and mistrusting.
- Dog people are loyal and honest. They make good leaders. (Please note that this is Chinese, and has no relevance to Western politics).
- Pig people are kind and affectionate. They have great inner strength.