십이지는 동양사상의 하나로 열두 동물(쥐, 소, 호랑이, 토끼, 용, 뱀, 말, 양, 원숭이, 닭, 개, 돼지)의 모습을 하고 있는 땅의 수호신을 가리킨다.
옛사람들은 이들이 12방위로 나뉘어 그 지역을 지킨다고 생각했으며 재앙과 악귀를 물리치고 복과 행운을 가져다 준다고 믿었다.
그래서 동양에서는 십이지신을 해마다 하나씩 지정해 각각의 의미를 부여했으며 우리나라에서도 자신을 용띠, 소띠등으로 표현 할 만큼 친숙하다.
The 12 guardian deities have been one of the oriental philosophical principles,
and then they indicate guardian deities of the earth having shapes of 12 animals such as rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, hen, dog and swine.
Once upon a time, people believed that those animals would present them with good fortune for well-being and good luck by driving out disaster and vicious ghosts because those animals had been guarding the 12 directions each being in charge of each direction.
Therefore, in the oriental society, they used to assign one of the 12 guardian deities to each year, and they endowed each with its own meaning.
Also, in this country, we are so accustomed to those to the point where almost everyone expresses oneself as I was born in the Year of the Horse, or I was born in the Year of the Cow.
