Why is it the pig?

5th February is Chinese New Year for 2019, the year of pig. According to lunar calendar, this year of pig starts on 5th February and ends on 24th January of 2020. In total, there are 354 days. Pig is the last animal added to the Chinese zodiac list. Like all other animals chosen to represent one zodiac sign, pig has a special story to tell too.

Long long time ago, there was one lord who could not have child till he was very old. Because of this son’s arrival, the lord and his family were extremely happy because they had an heir. On the celebration day, a physiognomist showed up and stated that this child would have a very prosperous and happy life because he has wide forehead, big ears which are sticking out, and the baby was white and chubby. Everyone was very happy to hear this and spoiled the child even more.

The chubby baby grew up little by little but he hated studying, working, nor exercising. He believed that it was his destiny to be rich and happy forever. However, after his father, the lord, passed away, he could not manage the family properly. The family became poor and servants had to leave too. The lord’s son was still living a very luxury life. In the end, he died of starvation.

After he died, his spirit was so unhappy because he felt his life should not end up like this. Therefore, the spirit went to complain in front of the god of hell. The god of hell took him to meet the god of heaven. As a judge of universe, the god of heaven found that the son of lord was extremely lazy and did not do anything useful while he was alive. Being extremely angry, the god of heaven said, ‘ even if you should have such a prosperous life, you are so lazy. Now, I punish you to become a pig and you will only eat chaff ‘吃粗糠’.’ The official of heaven, who was responsible to select animal to be the last zodiac sign misheard this order and thought ‘only eat chaff’ was ‘to become a zodiac sign’ since ‘eat chaff’ in Chinese sounds very similar to ‘become zodiac sign’. As a result of this, the official of heaven took the lord’s son back to the secular world and made him a pig. Since then, pig does not only eat chaff but also became the last zodiac sign for Chinese.

How do you find this story? Is it very different from what you had expected? Please share your thoughts with us. 😉

Please click here to see more about 2019 Inkston Pig Painting Competition.

 

 

Want to get a special handmade inkstick with pig zodiac sign? Have a look at these inksticks: