Chinese New Year Gods: The Buddha of self-zodiac year

Every Chinese lunar year has a zodiac sign. To the people having the same zodiac sign the year is their self-zodiac year. According to Chinese astrology, in a self-zodiac year the fortune of a person is significantly impacted by external factors, and the possibilities the person hit by disaster or unlucks are much higher. So man should be very careful in these years. In addition man should pray often to their self-zodiac God and use Fengshui items to improve his/her lucks.

According to Chinese Mizong Buddhism, there are total eight Buddha guarding people in the self-zodiac years. They are called self-zodiac Gods. Each of the Gods has his own responsible years. The list of the Buddha is following

Zodiac rat: Thousand hands Guanyin.
Zodiac ox: Nether world Guanyin.
Zodiac tiger: Nether world Guanyin.
Zodiac rabbit: Manjusri Bodhisattva
Zodiac dragon: Samtabhadra Bodhisattva
Zodiac snake:  Samtabhadra Bodhisattva
Zodiac horse:  Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva
Zodiac goat: Maha^vairocana
Zodiac monkey:  Maha^vairocana
Zodiac rooster: Arya Achala Bodhisattva
Zodiac dog: Maitreya
Zodiac pig: Maitreya

Many Chinese think it is important to pray to their self-zodiac God in temple at the beginning of the year. This is one of the reasons that temples get much more visitors in Chinese New Year holodays. It is also popular that people bring the figure of their self-zodiac God with them daily as a Fengshui item, or put the figure at home and worship it with flowers and incense.