2 of 12 · branch Chou (丑) · element Earth · last Ox year 2021
The Ox carries the plough and the season: 丑时, its two-hour window, is when farmers traditionally yoked their teams. It stands for effort that is slow to start and impossible to stop, and for results that arrive because they were earned rather than because they were lucky.
The branch repeats every twelve years, but the stem in front of it moves by two each time, so the element cycles through all five. That is why two Ox years can feel quite different.
The table above treats a whole Gregorian year as one animal, which is true for most of it. January and early February are the exception: the zodiac turns at the Start of Spring (around 4 February, exact to the minute) in divination, and at the lunar new year in festival usage. Between those two dates the animal is still the previous one.
Pick the exact date in the zodiac lookup, or open this year’s New Year date to see where the line falls.