AsianIdeas

Legend has it that each year around spring time the Nian (a beast that lives undersea) leaves his dwelling to assault and kill the local village people, mainly the children! The villagers learned to defend themselves by exploiting the beast weakness; mainly its sensitivity to loud noise and its extreme fear of the color red! The villagers devised a plan to rid themselves of the Nian. The plan consisted of banging drums and hurling firecrackers to produce a massive amount of noise which scared the Nian! After that day the Nian has never been seen again, but it is believed to still exist and each year the ritual that was performed by the villagers is recreated to keep the Nian at bay.

12 Animals of The Chinese Zodiac