The Story of the Twelve Animals of the Korean Zodiac
Rat
영상
Scenario
#1 Main Title: The Rat
#2 Opening: The Rat is the first of the twelve zodiac animals. The Rat guards the "North" and the hours between 11 o'clock at night and 1 o'clock in the morning. The month of the Rat corresponds to the 11th month of the lunar calendar. Because of its high reproductive rate, the rat represents fertility, while its diligence symbolizes the safeguarding of wealth and prosperity. Naturally intuitive, the rat can easily sense nearby danger and migrate to another place.
#3 The rat's intuition: According to the chapter on the history of the Silla Dynasty in Book Nine of Samguk sagi (三國史記, The History of the Three Kingdoms), in the fifth year of the reign of King Hyegong “an unusual event took place. After 8,000 rats left Chiak-hyeon, it did not snow that year.” This was an example of the rat's intuition. Upon witnessing such a migration, people sensed the danger of a volcanic explosion or some other catastrophic event. The fact that seamen traditionally do not set sail in a boat without rats stems from this belief.
#4 The status of the Rat among the twelve zodiac animals: Of the twelve images of gods in the royal tomb of King Heungdeok of the Silla Dynasty, only the image of the Rat Deity is depicted dressed in a heavenly gown. This appears to be related with the rat's special status as the first of the twelve zodiac animals. A representation of a rat also appears in a tomb mural dating from the Goryeo period in Seogok-ri, Paju. What's interesting is: above the official headdress of the image of a person was drawn in with a rat's head. The rat drawn in above the hat of the person seated in the center of the north took the first position of the animals guarding the tomb. The tomb occupant's earnest wish to bear children was reflected through the Rat, which represented fertility. Aware of the rat's great reproductive and vital powers, ancient people wished for the prosperity of children. This can be understood by the Chinese character representing the Rat, or "子," literally meaning "son."
#5 A symbol of diligence and fertility: The characteristics of the Rat can lead to its fertility and vitality. A rat has well-developed sensory and tactile organs, i.e. its whiskers, and upper teeth designed for devouring just about anything. It excels in adapting to its environment and has remarkable reproductive potential. With four front toes and five rear toes, a rat's body is well-balanced in terms of yin and yang; and the multiple number of toes signifies the number of infinite goblins, and is associated with its vital reproductive power.
#6 Folk legend about the rat's reproductive power: There is a folk legend related with the rat's impressive reproductive power. One day during the Goguryeo Dynasty, the fortune-teller Chunam (楸南) was tested by the angry king, who asked him to guess the number of rats inside a box, and ordered his execution when he proved unable to guess the right number. But when the rat's stomach was cut open, it revealed a litter of baby rats, proving that the fortune teller had been right about the number all along. The reincarnated spirit of the unjustly executed man was none other than General Kim Yu-sin (金庾信), the man who unified the three ancient kingdoms on the Koran peninsula
#7 #7. Folk customs about rats: Come the first month of the lunar calendar, the Korean people customarily played "Jwibulnori." This game involved placing balls of fire balls in rice paddies and fields to eliminate rats, and thus was called "Jwibulnori," literally meaning "playing with rat fires." In this way farmers controlled pests and wished for a good harvest while nurturing the community spirit. Their wives toasted beans while chanting, "Let us burn the rat's snout!" Of the various folk customs associated with rats, "Yutjeom" or "a fortune-telling game with Yut" was popular on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Participants threw the Yut sticks onto the board, and by examining the configuration in which the sticks fell they were able to tell the fortune for the coming year. According to Dongguk Sesigi, 東國歲時記, A Record of Seasonal Customs in Korea), the patterns formed by "do" and "gae" were interpreted as "a rat goes into the storage," while "geol," "gae" and "mo" meant "a cat encounters a rat." Such customs provide interesting insights into the life of our ancestors who predicted their future through the rat's habits and wished for a good harvest. In the Dangjin region of South Chungcheong province, there is a custom called "Jwibaram-ssoegi," which literally means "to blow a rat wind." The agile activity of a rat in one's house was compared to a person who first came into the house and was shown around its every nook and cranny. By showing a newcomer around the house, a family was expressing its wish that he or she would live a diligent and frugal life, just like a rat.
#8 The Western view of rats: What then is the West's view of rats? When plague devastated Europe during the Middle Ages, it was none other than the rat that was thought to have spread the disease and killed human lives. But the rat has a dual image: rat and mouse. The rat may also be bad, and signify a traitor, while the mouse is only a symbol of intelligence and cuteness. The rat as a cartoon or fairy tale character can haze a powerful cat, thus promoting positive views about the animal, but in general rats are viewed as dirty and nasty and are consequently detested and avoided.
#9 The image of rats among Korean people: In Korea, the rat, though small in size, is thought to be agile and clever. It is viewed as diligent and full of vitality and keen on saving food. It causes great damage to crops, but because of its innate diligence, it is often a symbol of wealth. Old paintings of rats reveal this characteristic. In Korean paintings, the behavior of rats is realistically but humorously portrayed, as in some paintings in which a rat is shown gnawing upon a carrot or a watermelon. Such depictions have led us to believe that the rat was very much a part of everyday life in Korea.
#10 End: Intuitive and diligent, the rat is the very first of the twelve zodiac animals. People born in the Year of the Rat are said to have enough food, though not great fortune, throughout their lifetime. Representing fertility, agility and diligence, the Rat is also a spokesperson for the weak. In the Korean zodiac system, the Rat is believed to be a wise animal that can bring abundance, hope and happiness.
The Year of the Rat is the year of abundance, hope and opportunity. People born in the Year of the Rat are destined to have a good life and an abundance of food. Real rats may inflict damage on humans; however, they are also viewed as being highly intuitive to impending dangers and can survive in tough conditions. The story of the rat, which symbolizes diligence, fortune, fertility and abundance, has long been orally transmitted in Korea.
The Chinese Zodiac system uses specific names to refer to dates by fitting characters, horizontal and vertical, and is composed of ten stems (十干, 天干), such as "甲乙丙丁 ," and twelve branches (十二支, 地支), such as "子丑寅卯." The system has been estimated to date back some 3,000 years based on the discovery that the oracle bone script (甲骨文) contained such characters as "丙子, 癸未, 乙亥, 丁丑." It was much later that the 60-year cycle (甲子) composed of ten stems and twelve branches was composed. The calendar marked with a sexagenary cycle started about 2,000 years ago, with the 13th year of the "Fire Rat" (丙子) in 105 B.C. during the Han Dynasty (漢代) in China.The system by which animals were assigned to the twelve branches, i.e. "子" for rat, "丑" for cow, "寅" for tiger and so on, first appeared in the Critical Essays (Lunheng, 論衡) written by the Chinese philosopher Wang Chong (王充) around the second century during the late Han dynasty. Then, the theoreticians of the Five Progresses (Wuxingjia, 五行家) added the Five Elements of Nature (五行), i.e. metal, wood, water, fire and earth (金木水火土), to the ten stems and twelve branches, along with the method of "Mutual Generation or Elimination" (Xiangsheng Xiang Ke, 相生相剋), thus creating a complex matrix to predict not only a person's future but also universal security. Based on this system, it may be groundless to judge one's destiny; however, whenever a year changes, a person may feel insecure or curious about their future in this world, which is often uncertain and confusing. In times of change, it is only human to hope for a new expectation.
Come the New Year, everyone wanted to know their fortune for the year by figuring out what symbolized the year's guardian animal of the Chinese zodiac system. Korean customs included making interpretations out of the destiny and personality of a child born in that year based on the animal of the zodiac system. By welcoming the new symbolic animal of the year, people created meaning out of the animal’s appearance, personality and traits in order to plan a new year full of hope and dreams.
Of course, exactly what influence the twelve zodiac animals had on people's daily life cannot be known; however, in Korea people sought symbolic meanings from each animal and tried to foresee their future. The fact that they received not only wisdom but also behavioral principles from them can be seen in various local customs, documents, relics and historic sites. Most importantly, the Rat was the first among the twelve animals. There are several legends which shed light on this background, including the following: Once upon a time, the King of Heaven wanted to give an important rank to animals, and announced that the first animal to arrive at the gate of the heaven on Lunar New Year's Day would be given the highest title. Upon hearing this news, all of the animals rejoiced and trained hard with the goal of getting there as fast as they could. Of them, the Cow worked the hardest. The Rat, however, while watching all the other animals in training, realized that it would be impossible to win the race as it was so small and weak. So the Rat stuck by the Cow as it trained the hardest. Then, when Lunar New Year's Day arrived and the race started, the Cow arrived at the gate first, but jumping off the Cow's back, yet the Rat passed through it first by leaping from the Cow's back at the last moment. The Cow was indignant, but it had no choice but to accept the second place. Thanks to its intelligence, the Rat won the first rank among the twelve zodiac animals.
