10 of 12 · branch You (酉) · element Metal · last Rooster year 2017
酉时 is the hour of setting in, and the Rooster is the animal that keeps time itself: before clocks, the dawn crow was the signal to rise. Five qualities were traditionally counted in it — literacy, vigilance, courage, generosity and reliability — which is why it is treated as the most moral of the twelve.
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 Rooster 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.