What animal were you?

Happy Year of the Rat!

日本語版は下！

Conversation in the car a couple of weeks ago. Out of the blue:

Weechan: "Mummy, what animal did Nia used to be?"

Mummy: " ???????? What do you mean?"

Weechan: " Now she's a baby but she used to be an animal right? Which one?"

Mummy: "?????? No, I think she's always been human. "

Weechan: " Yes, now she is a human, but when she came out she was an animal right, and then she changed into a baby right?"

Mummy: "????????"

Weechan:(getting irritated): " Well you said I was a sheep when I came out. That's why Uncle Yoshihiko gave me the toy sheep. And you were a monkey right?"

Mummy: (trying not to laugh raucously) " Oh right! No we didn't used to BE those animals, that was just the name of the year we were born in. It's like your lucky animal! I think Nia was born in the year of the dog"

How do you explain this to a 4 year old??? I love her logic though!

You may know that Japan, while celebrating New Year on January 1st, follows the Chinese Zodiac system, assigning one of 12 Animals to each year. If you want the Wikipedia Explanation, check it out here. I particularly like the list of characteristics given to each people born in each year. You can check which year you were born in on the linked page, then scroll down to see if you are typical or not! Seems to be about right for my family. Many superstitions abound, and you'll find people trying to get their labour induced to avoid their child being born in an unlucky year. Apparently being born in the year of the sheep is bad karma for girls in China, so there was a rush of December births the year before Weechan was born.
日本語版

この間の車に乗っているときの会話です　（いきなり）：

Weechan: Mummy,　Nちゃんは昔何の動物だったの？

Mummy: ???????どういう意味？

Weechan: 今は赤ちゃんだけど、前は動物だったでしょう？どれ？

Mummy: えええっ？いや、生まれてから人間でしょうね。

Weechan: うん、今は人間だけど、生まれたときは動物だったでしょうね、そして出てきてから、赤ちゃんに変わったよね。

Mummy: ？？？？？？

Weechan (いらいらし出した）: だから。。。。私が出てきた時羊だったでしょう？そして赤ちゃんに変わったよね。だからYおじちゃんが羊さんのぬいぐるみをくれたでしょう？そしてお母さんはサルだったでしょう？言ったよ！！！

（すごく笑いたかったけど我慢した)Mummy: ああ、そうか！その動物たちから人間に変身したわけじゃないよ！毎年その年の動物が決まっているよ。だからそれがあなたのラッキーな動物かもしれない。茉利は未年にうまれたけど、羊だったわけじゃないよ。Nちゃんは多分戌年にうまれたけど犬だったと言うことじゃないよ。

Weechan: そっか？！

（多分まだ分かっていないでしょう）。

どうやって４歳さんに説明するのかね？Mummyが困っています。。。