Chinese Zodiac

Did you know that there are twelve animals representing each year in Korea? We call that Chinese zodiac. The Chinese zodiac is similar to zodiac, but the main difference is that it changes by the year you're born, not the month. Though it was made by the Chinese, it is also a culture of Korea because we followed it for a long time. Actually, there is a legend that these animals were identified by the results of a running race. Now, I'll introduce you some animals that have an interesting story during the race or something related to my experience. Of course, I will give some descriptions, too. I hope you enjoy this photo essay!

                                 
                            The whole collection of the Chinese zodiac.

This is the picture of all the characters of the Chinese zodiac. The animals are mouse, cow,tiger,rabbit, dragon, snake horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig. I'm going to write about the most unique six. In China, the pictures are quite different because some of the animals are more rough. Our country's animals are much softer and cuter. Also, it is described in a smoother way.
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=023&aid=0002608577

 The smallest animal wins the race: mouse

The mouse won the race among the twelve animals. However, it was the smallest and the weakest animal. So how did it win? The mouse was very brainy. It knew that it'll loose the race. So, it hid inside the cow's fur and when it got close to the finish line, the mouse jumped and became the first place. In this picture, a small cute mouse that looks clever is shown. I think its fur will be very soft if we touch it!

 A special animal for me: tiger

Tiger is a really special animal for me. It is because I got a doll for my present when I visited Everland in 2009. Of course, it was symbolizing the tiger from the Chinese zodiac. It was a white one, and it's so cute! I play with it sometimes even now. This picture shows a tiger trying to block unfortunate lucks. It seems to be very courageous.

 The animal that was loyal to its master: dragon

Since dragon could fly, it must have the winner of the race. However, it didn't. When the race started, its master, which is God, told the dragon to deliver something. So the only reason the dragon being late was that it didn't have time to start as quick as others. This picture introduces a dragon who looks very cheerful. Its horn looks sharp! We can see the ball that symbolizes the dragon.

 The animal that belongs to my brother and father's                                                        birth year: horse

My brother and father are both born in the "horse" year. Horses like to run and are mostly thin. I don't know the exact reason, but both my father and brother like to run and are very thin. So sometimes, I think that it is related to the year they'd born in. This picture shows a horse with a telescope, watching the enemies while running. It's so thin!

 The animal which gives us fortunate luck: pig

In Korea, many of our ancestors believed that pig gave us fortunate luck such as money. In this picture, though it looks like that this pig is lazy, it seems to me that it is spreading the luck it has. Anyway, our ancestors thought it was a very important animal. This culture tells us the reason why there is a Chinese character that means luck on our piggy banks.

  The animal that is the most friendly to us: dog

My aunt has a dog named Bari. I don't know why her name is Bari, but it suits her well. She acts quite elegantly, but the problem is that she doesn't move! Anyway, now there's this picture! It looks like a dog that is really trustworthy. Also, it is wearing the traditional clothes that Korea's patrols wear.

Today, I mainly talked about the facts that are interesting and related to the Chinese Zodiac. I hope you enjoyed it. If I have more time, I want to show some more information about other animals too.

All the pictures except the first one are from  http://blog.naver.com/chaming529?Redirect=Log&logNo=40193208848