Oxen Resting
John Singer Sargent, 1910
On February 12, 2021 the Chinese New Year
begins and 2021 is the Year of the (Metal) Ox. The New Year is celebrated for
16 days and ends with the Lantern
Festival.
Women Oxen are traditional, faithful wives, who attach great importance to their children's
education. There are five types of Ox: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water. This
year falls under the Metal Ox and their traits also include hardworking,
active, always busy, and popular among friends. For more information go to: https://tinyurl.com/y45om4jm
According to the Chinese people born in the Year of the Ox have the following
personality traits:
Oxen are known for diligence, dependability, strength,
and determination. Having an honest nature. They are strongly patriotic, have
ideals and ambitions for life, and attach importance to family and work. These
reflect traditional conservative characteristics.
At the end of this blog, you also will find links to previous blogs highlighting the different animals of the Chinese Zodiac, each offering additional background information.
Whether or not this is your
year under the Chinese Zodiac I wish everyone a New Year filled first and
foremost with health and may you be blessed with all good things to keep you
safe and happy. May we all find ourselves together once more as we meet 2021
with renewed hope.
The Ox and the Ant - Bulgaria
At one time, the ant was so huge that it could pull the yoke of
the ox alone. She wanted to plow the ox with his plow instead, to work, and to
provide food for himself. "You can't feed people!" The ox told her.
"The Lord has assigned this work to me." "You do not want such a
fate," replied the ant. "Because your master stitches you with a wall
in your back to walk in the groove, and you cannot even make a step forward
alone without a master, while I belong only to myself - I have no master."
At that time the Lord God was walking around the earth and all the
animals were free to approach him and to complain to him about something or to
make a request to him. That's why the ant and the ox came to him to complain
about each other. "God!" Said the ox. "The ant wants to take
down my yoke and plow with the plow you gave me to feed myself and the
people." "This is not the job, Lord!" Said the ant - "I want
to provide food for people because they can't do it well enough. "
Then the Lord turned to the ant and said to her, "I know you
are hardworking, but let's see! Tell me, when you replace an ox, how many times
a day will you give people to eat thanks to your work? "" I will give
them to eat once every three days, "replied the ant. The Lord then
addressed the same question with an ox. "And how many times will you give
people to eat?" "They will be able to eat three times a day, although
I work slowly, I will still be able to satisfy their food needs." Then the
Lord blessed the ox: "You will feed the people of the earth while the
world is shining! "
Then the Lord turned to the ant. "To work forever and never
see the fruits of your labor!" To remember their sentence well, the Lord
ordered the ox to step on the ant and walk on its back. Then the ox's hooves
split as the back of the ant began to narrow. Up to that point, the ox's hooves
were as full as the horse's, and the back of the ant was not as narrow and thin
as it is today. And so now the ox still feeds all of us, because with such a
destiny God has blessed it. And people should eat three times a day and the
food will not benefit the one who eats more than three times a day. The ant
would have been so huge if the ox had not crushed it so much, breaking the hoof
on her back.
MORE STORIES
Babe the Blue Ox –
United States
https://tinyurl.com/y3m7zq8g
The Cart Without
Oxen – Costa Rica
https://tinyurl.com/y5bcm24c
The Cowherd and
the Weaver Girl - China
https://tinyurl.com/y2ftj7sx
The Four Oxen and
the Lion - Aesop
https://tinyurl.com/y6h86x4r
Great Joy the Ox -
India
https://tinyurl.com/y57uzj9y
The Ox and the
Frog – Aesop
https://fairytalez.com/the-ox-and-the-frog/
The Ox of the
Wonderful Horns - Zimbabwe
https://tinyurl.com/y4cyxdt9
The Ox Who Never
Envied the Pig - Jakarta
https://tinyurl.com/y6l8qo3c
The Oxen and the
Butchers - Aesop
https://fairytalez.com/the-oxen-and-the-butchers/
The Oxen and the
Pig - Jakarta
https://tinyurl.com/y4rbpb2k
The Straw Ox - Ukraine
https://tinyurl.com/y3jpx3jv
The
Three Oxen – Somalia (A variant on the Aesop Fable, The Four Oxen and the
Lion)
http://hooyo.web.free.fr/E_tale_03.html
ARTICLES
Interesting background articles to help round out your storytelling program.
How Oxen Plowed
the Way for Social Inequality
https://tinyurl.com/y5f7arlf
Ox,
cow and bull in folklore imagery and tales
https://tinyurl.com/y2zhxdb7
The Tale of the Ox
https://tinyurl.com/y684b4ap
CRAFTS
Paper Cup Ox
https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/paper-cup-ox
Printable Craft
Projects for the Year of the Ox
https://tinyurl.com/y3ybzn84
Redtedart.com –
Year of the Ox
https://www.redtedart.com/easy-cow-crafts/
CURRICULUM
Alphabet Letter X
Ox Theme: Preschool Lesson Plan with printable activities and worksheets.
https://first-school.ws/activities/alpha/x/ox.htm
Ox-Cart Man – The curriculum
is based on the book and is designed for grades
2 -3. This lesson received the 2020 Curriculum Gold
Award of Excellence from the National Association of Economic Educators.
https://tinyurl.com/y5zfad34
ADDITIONAL
RESOURCES
Below are previous blog posts I wrote for the Chinese New Year. You will find useful background information to augment your Chinese New Year programs.
Year of the Fire
Rooster|
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2017/01/chinese-new-year-2017-year-of-fire.html
Year of the Horse
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/12/chinese-new-year-year-of-horse.html
Year of the Pig
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2019/02/chinese-new-year-2019-year-of-pig.html
Year of the Rat
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2019/11/chinese-new-year-2020-year-of-rat.html
Year of
the Sheep
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2014/12/chinese-new-year-2015-celebrate-year-of.html
Year of the Snake
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2012/12/celebrate-chinese-new-year-2013-year-of.html
Year
of the Tiger
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2009/12/2010-year-of-tiger.html
Gung Hay Fat Choy
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2008/02/gung-hay-fat-choy.html
Please
note, websites change at a rapid pace and weblinks may change or
break without notice. I cannot be responsible for redirected or
broken links. At the time of this posting all links were in working
order. Thank you for understanding.
Karen Chace 2021 ©
This blog post was researched and
compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution,
either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written
permission. For permission, please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my
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