by Katley Demetria Brown

Created on: July 10, 2009   Last Updated: January 24, 2012

Although there are people who call it a pseudoscience, and question its validity, astrology has been around for millennia. The ancients saw animals, people, and symbols in the sky. The constellations became the foundation for the zodiac as we know it today. The western zodiac, with twelve signs, one for each month, was created by the ancient Babylonians. It's still in use today.

The Maya Indians of Central America, the Chinese, and the people of ancient Greece and Egypt all had their own astrological systems, and in those days astrology and astronomy were often interchanged.

For the ancients, astrology was a very important tool, used to measure time, predict the future, and analyze personality. They used the planets in relationship to each other, along with the sun and moon and performed intricate calculations when creating birth charts for important people. The Three Wise Men, who followed a star to find Jesus, were astrologers.

Most people are familiar with the Chinese zodiac. Their zodiac consists of a 12 year cycle, which starts with the new moon in late January/early February.  Every year, the zodiac sign changes. The year 2011 was the Year of the Rabbit, and the Year of the Dragon begins on January 23, 2012.

The signs of the Chinese zodiac are: Rat, Pig, Rooster, Snake, Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Monkey, Ox, Rabbit, Sheep, and Dog.

The Chinese zodiac travelled west with the Huns, nomadic people whose original homeland was northern China and Mongolia. During their westward migration, some of them settled in southeastern Europe, and became the ancestors of the present day Hungarians. The Huns, in their travels, may have brought their method of timekeeping to Bulgaria. What is little known to most people is the striking resemblance of the Bulgarian calendar to the Chinese zodiac.

Wikipedia mentions that: The European Huns used the Chinese Zodiac complete with "dragon", "pig". This common Chinese-Turkic Zodiac was in use in Balkan Bulgaria well into the Bulgars' adoption of Slavic language and Orthodox Christianity.

The Bulgarians, as a people, have been star-gazers for millennia, and even now, watch the sky closely and have even sent music into space, with the help of NASA, in the hope of making contact with beings outside our solar system. The Golden Record that went up on the Voyager Spacecraft in 1977 contained a Bulgarian folk song performed by Valya Balkanska, titled "Izlel e Delyu Haidutin."

The Bulgarian National Radio's website states:

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