OxFolklore

The Ox King Festival, also known as the Ox’s Birthday or Festival of the Ox Spirit, is one of the most important ox-related folk festivals among ethnic communities in southern China. Some Han regions also traditionally observed it. Dates vary from place to place, and local customs have distinct characteristics.

Zhuang Ox King Festival — Eighth Day of the Fourth Lunar Month

The Zhuang Ox King Festival is one of the most important agricultural festivals of the Zhuang people and is held each year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. According to legend, this day is the birthday of the Ox King, a divine ox who descended from Heaven specifically to help humanity plow the fields.

Principal customs:

In Zhuang areas of Guangxi, the Ox King Festival is regarded as an important festival second only to the Spring Festival. On this day, people not only allow cattle to rest, feed them well, wash them, and decorate their horns, but also burn ritual paper before the cowshed in gratitude for the Ox King’s protection over the past year.

Miao Ox King Festival — Eighth Day of the Fourth Lunar Month

The Miao also celebrate the Ox King Festival on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. According to legend, the ancestral figure Chiyou was a warrior deity with a human body and an ox head. The ancestors of the Miao revered the ox as a totem; the eighth day of the fourth month was regarded as Chiyou’s birthday and also as the Miao Ox King Festival.

Principal customs:

Dong Ox Deity Festival — Eighth Day of the Fourth Lunar Month or Sixth Day of the Sixth Lunar Month

The Dong Ox Deity Festival, also known as the Ox-Washing Festival, is held each year on either the eighth day of the fourth lunar month or the sixth day of the sixth lunar month. Legend holds that the Ox Deity descends to the human world once a year to inspect agricultural production and protect cattle from disease.

Principal customs:

Bouyei Ox King Festival — Eighth Day of the Fourth Lunar Month

The Bouyei likewise celebrate the Ox King Festival on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. According to legend, during an ancient migration their ancestors were aided by a divine ox, which helped them overcome hardship and eventually settle down in peace. To commemorate this beneficent animal, Bouyei communities give cattle a day of rest each year on the eighth day of the fourth month, feed them glutinous-rice cakes, and hang red cloth strips from their horns.

Han Ox King Festival — Dates Vary by Region

Some Han regions also observe the Ox King Festival, though the date is less standardized than among many ethnic minority communities. In parts of northern China, the Ox King is worshiped on the twenty-third day of the sixth lunar month, traditionally said to be the Ox King Lord’s birthday, with prayers for strong and healthy cattle and horses. In parts of the South, the festival is celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month together with neighboring ethnic communities.

Common Themes of the Ox King Festival

Regardless of ethnicity or region, the central themes of the Ox King Festival are gratitude toward cattle, humane treatment of cattle, and prayers for their health and strength. The festival gives concentrated expression to the agrarian conviction that “the ox is the farmer’s treasure.”

Whipping the Spring Ox, also called Beating the Spring Ox, was one of the most important ceremonies for welcoming spring in ancient China and was performed on the day of the Beginning of Spring.

Origins of the Spring Ox

The Beginning of Spring is the first of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms and marks the opening of spring. In an agricultural society, it meant that spring plowing was about to begin. The ancients fashioned an ox from clay — known as the Spring Ox — and held a whipping ceremony before it on the day of Beginning of Spring, both to encourage agricultural labor and to pray for a good harvest.

The size, color, and orientation of the Spring Ox were all governed by convention. According to the Book of Rites: Monthly Ordinances, the Spring Ox was to be eight chi long and four chi high, symbolizing the four seasons and the winds from the eight directions. Its color was determined according to the year’s Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and Five Phases: a year associated with Metal called for white, Wood for blue-green, Water for black, Fire for red, and Earth for yellow.

The Whipping Ceremony

On the day of Beginning of Spring, local authorities erected an altar in the eastern part of the city — the East being associated with spring — and placed the clay Spring Ox upon it. The highest local official, such as the prefect or county magistrate, held a colored whip and struck the ox three times. This was called “Beating Spring” or “Whipping Spring.” Afterward, the crowd broke the Spring Ox apart, scattering fragments across the ground. People scrambled to collect these pieces in a custom known as “Seizing Spring”, then brought them home and placed them in cowsheds or granaries in hopes of flourishing livestock and abundant grain.

Welcoming Spring and the Spring Procession

Before the Whipping of the Spring Ox, a grand Welcoming Spring ceremony was also held. People carried the Spring Ox and the Mang Deity, the divinity governing spring, through the city in procession. Gongs and drums thundered, colorful banners filled the streets, and crowds lined the road to watch. This was known as the Spring Procession or Welcoming Spring. The ceremony welcomed the season while also mobilizing society for the coming agricultural work.

Spring Ox Pictures and the Spring Ox Almanac

Associated with the Whipping of the Spring Ox was the Spring Ox Picture, a type of New Year print depicting the Spring Ox and the Mang Deity together with the year’s agricultural calendar and formulas for seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune. Folk tradition held that “when the Spring Ox enters ten thousand homes, the whole year will bring good prospects.” Families posted Spring Ox Pictures around the Beginning of Spring, praying for favorable weather and abundant harvests in the year ahead.

Cultural Meaning of Whipping the Spring Ox

The ceremony of Whipping the Spring Ox endured for thousands of years and only gradually disappeared around the end of the Qing dynasty and the beginning of the Republican era. It embodied the ancient Chinese state ideal of “encouraging agriculture and valuing farming”, while also reflecting the irreplaceable centrality of the ox within agrarian civilization. Though the Spring Ox itself was made of clay, it symbolized the value and meaning of real working cattle.

Unlike the official Whipping of the Spring Ox, Delivering the Spring Ox was a spontaneous popular custom for welcoming spring.

Origins of the Custom

Around the Beginning of Spring, villagers known for “delivering the Spring Ox” would carry red- or yellow-paper pictures of an ox from household to household. These images were inscribed with verses encouraging agriculture and with auspicious phrases. The men who delivered them were known as “Spring Officials” or “Spring Singers.” As they distributed the pictures, they chanted blessings in rhymed folk speech:

“The Spring Ox comes, the Spring Ox comes — your harvest this year will overflow. The Spring Ox calls, the Spring Ox calls — your silver and gold will never be spent…”

Spring Singing

Spring Singing was a form of folk recitation and song popular in parts of northwestern and southwestern China. Spring Singers traveled from village to village, standing before Spring Ox pictures while reciting the year’s agricultural tasks, solar terms, and taboos. In doing so, they transmitted practical farming knowledge while also adding festivity to the Beginning of Spring. Their verses could be formulaic or improvised on the spot:

“The Spring Ox walks slowly — your grain bins rise to a peak; the Spring Ox walks swiftly — your gold and silver fill the world.”

In some southern regions, there is a custom known as Sending Off the Ox King after the autumn harvest.

In the tenth lunar month — or in some places around the Winter Solstice — the harvest has been completed and cattle have finished their year’s work. People make a straw ox and burn it before the cowshed, a rite called Sending Off the Ox King. The meaning is to send the Ox King’s spirit back to Heaven so that it may rest through the winter and return the following spring to help humanity cultivate the land once more.

During the ceremony, people tie red cloth strips to the straw ox, decorate it with colored paper flowers, burn ritual paper, and offer food, praying that the Ox King will return the next year and continue to protect agriculture. Sending Off the Ox King and Receiving the Ox King — the springtime welcoming rites — thus form the two ends of a complete annual cycle, expressing the dependence and gratitude that agrarian society felt toward cattle.

In traditional Chinese folk belief, the first through sixth days of the first lunar month correspond respectively to the Chicken, Dog, Sheep, Pig, Ox, and Horse, because Nüwa was said to have created the six domestic animals during those first six days and humanity only on the seventh.

According to the Book of Divination: “The first day of the first month is for the Chicken, the second for the Dog, the third for the Sheep, the fourth for the Pig, the fifth for the Ox, the sixth for the Horse, and the seventh for Human beings.” The fifth day is therefore Ox Day. On this day, slaughtering cattle is forbidden, and cattle are not to be used for plowing, as a sign of respect.

The weather on Ox Day was also used to divine the fortune of cattle for the coming year. If the fifth day was clear, cattle were expected to remain strong and free from disease; if it was rainy or overcast, illness or other misfortune was feared.

In some regions, there are traditions of worshiping cattle around the solar term Grain Rain. This is one of the busiest periods of spring cultivation, when plowing, harrowing, and sowing all depend heavily upon oxen. On this day, people give cattle the finest fodder, burn ritual paper before the cowshed, and pray that the animals will remain healthy and work smoothly throughout the spring farming season.

Frost’s Descent is the final solar term of autumn. In parts of northern China, a custom known as “Worshiping the Ox King at Frost’s Descent” has long circulated. After Frost’s Descent, the weather turns colder and working cattle enter their winter rest period. People give the ox its final bath of the year and its last special feed, then close and reinforce the cowshed with thicker bedding so that it can pass the winter in comfort.

Origins of the Ox King

The Ox King is the folk deity believed to govern cattle. Several traditions explain his origin:

Ox King Temples

Across China there once stood numerous Ox King Temples, Ox Deity Temples, and Horse King Temples, with the Horse King and Ox King often worshiped together. On the twenty-third day of the sixth lunar month, traditionally said to be the Ox King Lord’s birthday, cattle owners, cattle dealers, and merchants engaged in the cattle trade visited these temples to burn incense and pray that their animals would remain strong, healthy, and fertile.

Ox King Associations

Some regions also formed organizations known as Ox King Associations. Cattle-owning households took turns serving as association leaders, pooled funds to organize Ox King rites, invited opera troupes to perform, and gathered for communal meals and discussions. These associations were not only religious organizations but also places where cattle owners exchanged husbandry knowledge and conducted cattle transactions.

Totemic Origins of the Ox

The ox was one of the earliest animal totems of ancient China. According to legend, Yandi Shennong had “a human body and an ox head.” The Chronicles of Emperors and Kings records: “Shennong was of the Jiang clan. His mother was named Rensi… she conceived through contact with a divine dragon and gave birth to Yandi, who had a human body and an ox head.” Yandi’s people revered the ox as their totem and became associated with the origins of Chinese agrarian civilization.

In the legendary war between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou, Chiyou too is depicted as having an ox head and a human body. His people likewise revered the ox as a totem. That both Yandi and Chiyou were leaders of ox-totem peoples indicates the exceptionally exalted status of the animal in ancient Chinese tribal culture.

Ritual Status of the Ox

In Shang and Zhou sacrificial rites, the ox was the highest-ranking sacrificial animal. The Great Sacrifice placed the ox first, followed by sheep and pig; the Lesser Sacrifice used sheep and pig but no ox. Only sacrifices of the highest, sovereign level were worthy of an ox. The ritual system itself thus institutionalized the sacred status of cattle.

Iron Oxen for Suppressing Floods

In ancient Chinese hydraulic culture, iron oxen played an important role in controlling or suppressing water. Legend held that whenever Yu the Great brought a river under control, he cast an iron ox and sank it into the riverbed to restrain floods. This tradition endured for thousands of years, and many places along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers still preserve iron oxen cast during the Ming and Qing periods.

Among the best-known examples are:

The belief underlying these objects was that the ox belongs to Earth, and Earth controls Water. In Five-Phase theory, Chou belongs to Earth, and Earth overcomes Water. This simple cosmological principle helped make the ox one of the most favored sacred animals in hydraulic engineering.

Zhuang: the ancestors of the Zhuang regarded the ox as an important totem. In Zhuang mythology, the Ox King is a celestial star spirit who, moved by human hardship, descended to help people cultivate the land. Strong traditions of reverence for cattle remain among the Zhuang today.

Miao: in Miao legend, the ancestral figure Chiyou had an ox head and a human body, and the ox is one of the Miao totems. Traditions of bull contests, Ox King worship, and the Ox King Festival remain important today.

Tibetan: in Tibetan Buddhism, bovine imagery has sacred significance. Yamantaka, often represented with a buffalo head and a human body, is one of the major protective deities of Tibetan Buddhism and symbolizes the power of the Dharma to subdue all evil.

Yi: among the Yi, the Torch Festival includes traditions of worshiping the Ox Deity. One legend holds that the festival originated from a Yi hero who sacrificed himself to protect cattle. During the festival, people honor not only the hero but also the divine protector of the herd.

The modern financial term “bull market” has its roots in the image of the ox. In traditional rural society, an ox market was literally a marketplace for buying and selling working cattle. Since the ox was the farmer’s most important productive asset and could cost the equivalent of many months of household income, a thriving cattle market signaled a thriving agricultural economy. The term was later borrowed into modern financial language to describe a rising and prosperous market.

In traditional Chinese agricultural society, people often said that “an ox is half the household fortune.” A working ox could represent nearly half a family’s assets. With an ox, one could cultivate land; with cultivated land, one could harvest grain; with grain, one could produce a surplus to sell. The ox was therefore both a creator of wealth and a symbol of wealth itself.

In folk culture, the ox also became an auspicious emblem for attracting wealth. The animal’s lowing sound, mou, was associated through wordplay with the idea of planning or seeking advantage. Hence sayings such as “when the ox lows, wealth rolls in.”

Every Year of the Ox gives rise to an especially rich vocabulary of blessings:

Spring Ox Pictures

The Spring Ox Picture is one of the most common ox themes in New Year prints. At the center stands a powerful bull carrying a flowering plum branch on its back, symbolizing the plum blossom announcing spring. Beside it stands the Mang Deity, or God of Spring, holding a willow whip. The image is often printed together with the Twenty-Four Solar Terms and agricultural sayings, making it both an auspicious picture and a farming calendar. Folk tradition says: “When the Spring Ox enters ten thousand homes, the whole year brings good prospects.” Families paste Spring Ox Pictures around the Beginning of Spring in hopes of favorable weather and abundant harvests.

Five Oxen

The Five Oxen is a classic theme in New Year prints. Five oxen appear in different poses — walking, standing, lying down, eating, or lifting their heads — and together symbolize “Five Oxen bringing blessings.” Such compositions often draw inspiration from Han Huang’s Tang-dynasty painting Five Oxen.

The Spring Ox is the most common ox motif in paper-cutting: a strong animal carrying plum blossoms or ingots on its back, accompanied by swallows, willow branches, and other signs of spring. These cut-paper oxen are often pasted on windows or cowshed doors to symbolize welcoming spring and receiving blessings.

Clay oxen: in rural northern China, people traditionally made ox-shaped clay figures from yellow earth and left them to dry on windowsills, either as children’s toys or as seasonal decorations. Clay oxen were also common folk crafts at temple fairs.

Stone oxen: throughout China, ancient ox sculptures survive in many forms — stone, iron, and bronze. Some were used to suppress floods, others to guard tombs, and still others as auspicious decoration.

The ox is also a familiar theme in traditional Chinese printmaking, especially in folk woodcuts, where “every cut and every stroke conveys the plain sincerity of peasant art.”

Do not strike the ox on the head: folk belief holds that “if you strike an ox on the head, it will die.” The head was seen as the animal’s most vulnerable and vital part. Even if an ox was disobedient, one was permitted to strike only its hindquarters or back, never the head.

Do not curse the ox: people believed that cattle could understand human speech. If one called an ox “dead ox” or “diseased ox,” the words might come true. Cattle owners therefore avoided speaking ill of their animals and used only favorable words.

Do not speak words of death or illness before the cowshed: saying things like “the ox is dead” or “the ox is sick” near the cowshed was considered inauspicious. Such words might be overheard by the Ox King and become reality.

Do not whip a pregnant cow: during pregnancy, a cow was not to be beaten or overworked. Folk belief held that doing so would offend the Ox King and could cause miscarriage or a difficult birth.

Do not eat working cattle: in traditional agrarian society, eating the meat of working cattle was strictly forbidden. The plow ox was a farming partner and household asset, not food. Only cattle that died of illness or old age might sometimes be eaten, and even then one was expected to seek the Ox King’s forgiveness beforehand.

Buddhism and the taboo against beef: after Buddhism entered China, abstention from beef became widespread among Buddhists. The ox was regarded as the foremost of the six domestic animals, the foundation of agriculture, and a friend of humanity; eating its flesh was seen as an act of ingratitude. From the Tang and Song periods onward, the Buddhist taboo against beef exerted a deep influence on Chinese society, and many literati and officials regarded abstention from beef as a sign of moral integrity and benevolence.

Popular explanations for avoiding beef: folk tradition offered simple moral explanations such as “if you eat beef, you will become an ox in your next life,” reflecting ideas of karmic retribution, and “the ox plows the fields and the horse carries people; to eat the ox’s flesh is to have no conscience,” reflecting gratitude and compassion.

People born in the Year of the Ox traditionally observe certain cautions during an Ox year. They may be advised not to make major changes such as moving house, changing jobs, or making large investments; not to travel far, since their zodiac year is considered a time for stillness rather than movement; to wear red belts, red socks, or red undergarments to ward off misfortune; and to wear ox-shaped jade or metal ornaments as talismans associated with their natal sign.

In traditional zodiac marriage culture, people born under the Ox are said to clash with those born under the Sheep — the conflict of Chou and Wei — and to be harmed by those born under the Horse — the relation between Chou and Wu. Folk sayings such as “Ox and Sheep do not reach the end together” and “Ox and Horse do not grow old together” express the belief that such marriages may bring disharmony or even separation. These ideas belong to the realm of folk custom and have no scientific basis.

Positive expressions:

Negative expressions — fewer in number:

In popular zodiac personality culture, people born under the Ox receive characteristic evaluations. Positive traits include diligence, steadiness, honesty, perseverance, willingness to bear hardship, and a strong sense of responsibility. Negative traits include stubbornness — the proverbial “ox temper” — inflexibility, and slow reactions. A folk verse summarizes the idealized Ox personality:

“Chou Ox nature pure and true, a lifetime spent in diligent labor. Plowing sun and moon at the field’s edge, honesty handed down to descendants.”

The Cowherd Boy: “The sun comes out and shines on the hill; the cowherd rides his ox and sings a mountain song. In his left hand he holds a blade of green grass, with his right he swings a willow switch.” The song paints an idyllic pastoral scene of a cowherd boy riding leisurely on an ox while singing.

The Little Calf: “Little calf, so lovable, follows its mother to the field. When mother walks, it walks; when mother stops, it stops.” For many children, such songs form an earliest introduction to the animal.

In the Song of the Twelve Zodiac Animals: “The Rat comes first, followed by the old yellow Ox; the Tiger gives a roar, and the Rabbit trembles all over…” The Ox is second and is one of the first zodiac animals children learn to recognize.

“Bullfighting”: a folk game in which two children imitate fighting bulls by bending over, pressing heads together, and gripping each other’s shoulders. The first to be pushed down or backward loses.

“Riding the Ox”: a group game in which one child plays the ox on hands and knees while another rides on the “ox’s” back. The ox crawls and attempts to shake the rider off. The game was especially common in northern rural communities.

“Old Ox Pulling the Cart”: a pulling game in which several children form a line, each holding the clothing of the child ahead. The first child plays the ox and the rest the cart. The ox pulls forward while the “cart” follows behind. It resembles other line games but emphasizes strength and pulling.

Clay oxen: common toys at northern temple fairs. Some have holes in the back through which they can make sound when blown. The brightly colored, robustly modeled clay oxen of Gaomi, Shandong, are part of a nationally recognized intangible cultural heritage tradition.

Bamboo oxen: ox-shaped toys woven from bamboo, especially common in southern China.

Cloth oxen: small ox dolls sewn from fabric, usually simple and endearing in appearance and often among a child’s earliest visual encounters with the animal.

The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is one of China’s Four Great Folk Legends. In this tale, an old ox plays the indispensable role of matchmaker.

The Cowherd loses his parents at an early age and lives with his elder brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law treats him harshly, sending him out each day with an old ox and giving him little to eat. The Cowherd and the ox depend upon one another for survival. One day, the old ox suddenly begins to speak and tells him that the Weaver Girl of Heaven will descend to bathe. Following the ox’s advice, he goes to meet her, and the two eventually marry. Later, the Heavenly Emperor takes the Weaver Girl back to Heaven. Before dying, the old ox tells the Cowherd that if he wears the ox’s hide, he will be able to fly to Heaven and seek his wife. The Cowherd puts on the hide, carries his two children in baskets, and flies upward, only to be separated from the Weaver Girl by the Milky Way created by the Queen Mother of the West. Thereafter they can meet only once each year on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month, upon the bridge formed by magpies. In this tale, the old ox possesses multiple divine qualities: it can speak, foresee the future, and after death its hide can enable a human being to fly. It stands between deity and animal and represents the highest expression of the ox’s spiritual power.

Five Oxen, painted by the Tang artist Han Huang, is the earliest surviving and most famous Chinese painting on paper devoted to oxen.

Content of the painting: five oxen are arranged from left to right, each with a distinct posture and expression. The first, brown in color, lowers its head to eat grass in complete ease. The second, black and white, strides forward with head raised and lively spirit. The third stands frontally and looks directly toward the viewer, the only frontal animal in the composition. The fourth turns its head as though waiting for a companion. The fifth, yellow in color, lowers its head under a burden and walks with heavy steps.

Artistic features: Han Huang used meticulous brushwork to depict the animals’ hides, muscles, bones, eyes, and expressions, giving each ox a different temperament and emotional presence. The five animals retain their individual independence while also forming an internally coherent sequence, as though an ox procession were moving slowly forward. Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan dynasty praised the work simply as “extraordinary brushwork.”

Cultural meaning: Five Oxen celebrates agrarian civilization while also allowing Han Huang to use the ox as a metaphor for himself. Diligence, endurance, willingness to labor, and asking nothing in return are presented as virtues of both the plow ox and the cultivated gentleman. The painting is now housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing and is regarded as a national treasure.

Tang dynasty:

Qi Baishi painted not only Rats but also oxen. Many of his ox paintings drew upon memories of rural life: cowherd boys riding on oxen, old oxen plowing fields, or cattle resting beneath willow trees. His ox paintings are plain, unadorned, and full of the atmosphere of the earth, expressing his deep nostalgia for the countryside of his childhood.