Living tradition
Chinese zodiac
All East and Southeast Asia; the animal changes every Lunar New Year.
Twelve animals (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig) and five elements in a sixty-year cycle.
How it's done
- 01Find your lunar birth year (if born in January or February, check the New Year date).
- 02Add the year's element: wood, fire, earth, metal or water.
- 03Compare your animal with this year's.
With your own tools
Any lunar calendar will do; what matters is the element, which almost nobody checks.
With Ocluna
With your date I calculate your animal, element and polarity respecting each year's exact Lunar New Year, not January 1st.
Your reading
Master Li Wen does your Chinese zodiac reading
What Master Li Wen tells you
- Legend says the Jade Emperor held a race: the rat won by riding on the ox's back and jumping off at the finish; that is why it comes first.
- Dragon years cause a birth spike in China, Vietnam and Singapore: many families deliberately wait to have a dragon child.
- In Vietnam the fourth animal is not the rabbit but the cat, and in Thailand the dragon becomes a naga.
- The year of the Dragon triggers births in China, Vietnam, and Singapore: many families purposely wait to have a child under that sign.
- In Vietnam the fourth animal is not the rabbit but the cat, and in Thailand the dragon becomes a naga.
- The Chinese year does not start on January 1 but with the second new moon after the winter solstice, between January 21 and February 20.
- The Cat is not in the Chinese zodiac, but it is in the Vietnamese one, where it takes the place of the Rabbit.
- The year in which one's own animal returns is called benmingnian, and Chinese custom dictates wearing something red in color given by another person.
- Before dial clocks, the Chinese day was divided into twelve double hours with their animal; midnight fell in the hour of the Rat.
- In the Japanese eto, the animal calendar that Japan inherited from China, the twelfth sign is not the domestic pig but the wild boar.
- Bazi does not count the year from the lunar new year but from lichun, the solar beginning of spring, which falls around the fourth day of February.
- The cycle of twelve animals passed from China to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand; in Vietnam, the second sign is not the ox but the buffalo.
This reading is symbolic self-knowledge and entertainment content based on folk traditions. It does not predict the future, is not medical, legal or financial advice, and does not replace qualified professionals.