| Pig/Boar | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Real Name |
Pig/Boar |
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First Appearance |
Chinese Mythology |
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Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
The Pig (豬) or sometimes translated as the Boar is the twelfth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in Chinese Zodiac, in relation to the Chinese calendar and system of horology, and paralleling the system of ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches.
An ancient folktale called "The Great Race" tells of the Jade Emperor's decree that the years on the calendar would be named for each animal in the order they reached him. To get there, the animals would have to cross a river.
Right when the Jade Emperor was going to end the race, an oink sound was heard: it was the Pig. The Pig felt hungry in the middle of the race, so it stopped, ate something, and then fell asleep. After it awoke, it finished the race in twelfth place, making it the last animal to arrive.
Yet another legend has it that The Emperor organized a race to ascertain the order of the animals in the Zodiac. The pig not having arrived long after all of the other animals, he was about to call it a day when an oink and squeal were heard. The term "lazy pig" comes from this incident; the Pig had become hungry during the race, stopped for a feast, and then promptly fell asleep. The pig finally completed the race, however, and was accordingly named the 12th and last animal of the zodiac cycle.
Other sources say that given his very stout form, he was just too slow a swimmer, and thus he could not do anything against the other animals (or conversely that he was so fast he went up the wrong side of the river first).
In Buddhism, legend has it that Gautama Buddha summoned all of the animals of the Earth to come before him before his departure from this Earth, but only twelve animals actually came to bid him farewell. To reward the animals who came to him, he named a year after each of them. The years were given to them in the order they had arrived.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
All published appearances of the Pig of the Chinese Zodiac from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- Ancient Calendars and Constellations (1903)
- Things Japanese (1905)
- 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
Notes[]
- In the Japanese zodiac and the Tibetan zodiac, the Pig is referred to as the boar. In the Dai zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the elephant. In the Gurung zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the deer. The Malay zodiac replaces the Pig with the tortoise.