It’s already Chinese New Year again! Happy year of the Ox! The ox is associated with traits like strength, endurance, patience and stubbornness. There are 12 zodiac animals in total, and the ox is the 2nd animal. In fact, there’s a specific sequence to the 12 animals, and it goes like this: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.
There is a legendary story that explains how these animals ended up in that order. It’s called The Great Race. There’s many slightly different versions of the story, but it’s really just a fun and great story to tell! I learned this story in Chinese school a long time ago but I haven’t really thought about it since. Time for a refresher!
The Great Race
One day, the Jade Emperor, known as one of the most important gods in Chinese mythology, invited all the animals to take part in a race in order to select the zodiac animals. The order of the animals would be settled by where they finished in the race. The race required the animals to cross a river.
The day before the race, two best friends – the rat and the cat – planned to wake up early the next day. The cat told the rat to wake him up, since he had a habit of over sleeping. But when the next day came, the rat was too excited for the race and forgot to wake up the cat. In the end, the cat did not show up and was not included in the zodiac animals. The cat was very angry at the rat and could not forgive him. To this day, a cat’s greatest enemy is the rat.
The rat was running the race and encountered the river. Being so small, he could not cross it. But the rat noticed the steady and strong ox coming, and the sneaky rat jumped on the ox’s head as the ox was getting into the river. The rat rode on the ox’s head for the remainder of the race, and right before the finish line, the rat was able to jump ahead of the ox to cross first. The rat came in 1st, and the ox is 2nd.
The tiger is competitive and fast, and had no difficulty finishing 3rd in the race.
The rabbit had some trouble in the river but was able to use it’s ability to jump from rock to rock. In the end, he found a log to jump on, but couldn’t make it move. Suddenly, a gust of wind from behind pushed the log to the other side of the river. The rabbit came in 4th.
The dragon (what every parent wishes their kid to be!) finished 5th. The Jade Emperor was surprised to see the dragon coming through so far behind. But the dragon explained that he was racing through the clouds, when he saw a village on fire down below. He went out of his way to help the village by extinguishing the fire with his breath. As he was passing the river, he saw the rabbit on a log on top of the water, unable to move. The dragon lent a helping hand and blew a gentle breath, pushing the rabbit to the other side. The dragon is not the fearful creature we think it is after all!
The horse was next, galloping to the finish line, but unexpectedly, the snake appeared at his feet, scaring the horse and causing him to halt. Therefore, the snake was 6th, and the horse was 7th.
The goat (8th), monkey (9th) and rooster (10th) worked together to make a raft and crossed the river together.
The dog came in 11th, only because when he jumped into the river, his playfulness got the better of him and he played in the water for awhile.
Last came the pig, the 12th animal of the zodiac. As the pig was racing, he got hungry and stopped to eat. After he was full, he fell into a food coma and slept.
There you have it! A friendly race led to these 12 animal representing each Lunar year for the rest of time. Personally, I’m a snake. Which zodiac animal are you? What different variations to the story did you learn?
Dreamless Night 
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