Product Description
What is the Chinese Zodiac?
The Chinese Yinyang principle consists of a 12-year cycle, each year of which is named after a different animal that imparts distinct characteristics to its year. Many Chinese believe that the year of a person's birth is the primary factor in determining that person's personality traits, physical and mental attributes, and degree of success and happiness throughout one's lifetime. The ancient Yinyang principle constructed a fantastic system of 10 heavenly stems and 12 mundane branches. The latter corresponds to 12 animals with two symbolic functions. Each animal is mystically related to one year in a 12-year cycle. Each animal also represents two hours or one-twelfth of every day. A person's future is determined by this intriguing system. These twelve animals are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. For example, the year 2023 is the year of Rabbit.
Peach Wood
♥ Ward off evil spirits ♥ Wealth ♥ Luck ♥
In ancient China, the northeast direction was known to be the devil's gate position. Therefore, two deities namely Shen Du and U Lei took charge of the area to prevent any evil spirits from entering the human realm. They were protected under a branch of the gigantic peach tree. Whenever they see any ghost entering the human realm they will tie the ghosts with hemp strings and throw them into a forest to be eaten by tigers. Since then, all ancient Chinese houses would have two panels carved from peach wood to be hung on doors to drive away evil spirits. Therefore, peach wood is considered to have the functions of luck, warding off evil spirits, and attracting wealth in traditional Chinese culture.
Fu Character
♥ Happiness ♥ Blessing ♥ Fortune ♥ Luck ♥
The Chinese character Fu (福) means happiness, blessing, good fortune, and good luck. People across China have the tradition to paste this character on their doors or windows during the Spring Festival to greet the Chinese Lunar New Year. They believe doing this will bring good fortune. It is written on diagonal square red paper and the character is usually pasted upside-down. Since the word for "arrive" in Chinese sounds the same as the word for "upside-down", pasting the character upside-down signifies that "good fortune has arrived". Pasting the character upside-down on a door or doorpost thus translates into a wish for prosperity to descend upon a dwelling. The Fu character can also be used in jewelry to represent the desire that one's good luck will be expansive.