Asian zodiac: The cat in the rabbit hat



A cat or a rabbit?  Your call...

As if by magic, the Chinese Year of the Rabbit can suddenly shape-shift into the Vietnamese Year of the Cat.  Why is this so - and are there any significant differences between the two?

A Chinese folk tale tells that the Taoist Jade Emperor once lined up all the existing animals by the side of a wide river.  His goal was to name specific years after each of the first twelve animals to reach the opposite shore.  At the time this race began, the cat and the rat were good buddies.  However, while they were both hitching a ride across on the back of an ox, the wily rat just couldn’t resist throwing his BFF overboard.  That is why there is no cat to be found within the Chinese zodiac.  A rabbit slid into fourth place instead.

As far as the Vietnamese zodiac is concerned, there is no rabbit.  Plus, there is a cat.  (Perhaps the following occurred:  the cat started swimming furiously as soon as it hit the water; the cat arrived on the opposite shore at exactly the same time as the rabbit; the cat gobbled up the rabbit; the cat then claimed fourth place as its own.)

There are other possibilities, as well.  Wikipedia suggests that since the Chinese symbol for “rabbit” sounds like “meo” – and since the Vietnamese word for “cat” is also “meo” –  “rabbit” quickly morphed into “cat” when it crossed the Vietnamese border.  (Plus, way more cats than rabbits are known to say “meo” when they want something from unsuspecting astrologers…)

There is yet another way that the cat has infiltrated the rabbit’s traditional astrological turf.  Although novices often make the mistake of equating entire calendar years with the animal names, this isn't necessarily so.  For example, many may be thinking that all of 1987 was the Year of the Rabbit.  These poor folks may wake up to find a tiger in their tank – for the Year of the Tiger did not let go until January 29, 1987. 

But does it matter?  A resounding yes!  Until lions actually do lie down with lambs, there remain marked differences between tigers and rabbits.

As for rabbits and cats?  Some astrologers like to point out the similarities.  For example, both rabbits and cats have teeth.  However, rabbits chew on lettuce, whereas cats chew on rabbits…

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(zodiac)

http://janmstore.com/asianzodiac.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Emperor

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Vietnamese_zodiac

Copyright February 2, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved