The rabbit

The rabbit is the fourth of the twelve earthly branches. In Vietnam the cat stands in its place — the same branch, a different animal, which shows plainly that the animal names are the outer layer of a calendar system.

Its place in the cycle

Phase: wood
Season: mid-spring — the equinox
Double hour: 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Direction: east
Linked with: goat and pig — the wood group of three
Facing: the rooster

The rabbit stands in the middle of spring, in the east, at the hour of sunrise — as the horse does in the middle of summer and the rooster in the middle of autumn. The four branches at the middle of a season are the purest representatives of their phase.

What tradition hands down

Circumspection, an easy way with others, a sense of measure and of form, skill at getting out of the way — and the other side of it: a shyness of conflict, a reserve that runs into indecision, withdrawal instead of confrontation.

In East Asia the rabbit is a sign of good fortune and long life; it is the animal seen in the Moon — there where Europe sees a face.

What the year animal is worth

The coarsest of the four pillars. Anyone wanting it more exact has the year, the month, the day and the hour worked out. The heavenly stem goes with it.

Checking the start of the year

The animal changes between late January and mid-February, and the schools reckon it differently. See the Chinese calendar.