Rat (zodiac)





The Zodiacal Rat is the first of the repeating 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac, constituting part of the Chinese calendar system (with similar systems in use elsewhere). The Year of the Rat in standard Chinese is ; the rat is associated with the first branch of the Earthly Branch symbol 子 (zǐ), which starts a repeating cycle of twelve years. The Chinese word shǔ​ (鼠) may refer to rat, mouse, or other muroid-type animal. There are also a yearly month of the rat and a daily hour of the rat (Chinese double hour, midnight, 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.). Years of the rat are cyclically differentiated by correlation to the Heavenly Stems cycle, resulting in a repeating cycle of five years of the rat (over a sixty-year period), each rat year also being associated with one of the Chinese wu xing, also known as the "five elements".

 

Years and the Five Elements


  People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "Year of the Rat", while bearing the following elemental sign: The following is a chart of the dates of the Gregorian calendar.

Popular culture


In popular culture, the zodiacal idea of year of the rat is associated with various beliefs about prognostications for the upcoming year, lucky numbers, lucky colors, auspicious romantic connections, similarities between persons born in those years, correlations between Chinese astrology and Western astrology and the like.

Basic astrology elements
Popular culture links many aspects of the zodiac rat various ways:

Famous and infamous people
In popular culture, much attention is directed towards supposed similarities of personalities of persons born in the year of the rat. Supposed likenesses between persons born in the year of the rat are pointed to, with some similarity between the persons on the list being claimed. For example, Al Gore, Richard Simmons, William Shakespeare, T. S. Elliot, and George Washington, and more, are all presented as examples of some sort of theme based upon being born in the year of the rat.

Compatibility
In popular culture, matches good or ill of a romantic or occupational nature between persons born in the year of the rat or otherwise are traditionally surmised:

Cycle: (Trine Group) Rat needs Dragon, Dragon needs Monkey, Monkey needs Rat; (Opposite Sign) but his rival opposes the Horse.

The Jade Emperor and the race for zodiacal place
A popular modern story has it that the order of the animals in the twelve-year cycle was due to a competition between animal candidates, held by the ruler of Heaven, Earth, and Hell -- the Jade Emperor. According to one version of this tale, the emperor's advisors selected twelve candidates from among the animal types, including the rat and the cat. The winner was to be selected based upon merit, as to personal appearance, lifestyle, and contributions to the world. Before the competition, the cat asked the rat for a wake up call in order to get to the show on time; however, the rat apprehensive of the competition, especially as to the cat's apparent beauty, did not wake the cat, who then overslept (and, ever afterwards, the embittered cat became a ratter and a mouser). The Jade Emperor mystified as to why there were only eleven candidate animals to show up inquired of his servants. These servants hastily acquired the first possible replacement animal which they encountered, (a pig). After the start of the competition, the rat achieved first place by performing on the flute while upon the back of the ox. Impressed, the Jade Emperor placed the rat at the beginning of the twelve year cycle (and the ox second, for being so generous as to allow the rat to play the flute upon the ox's back). Then the other animals were placed in order according to the Jade Emperor's judgment.

Further reading and references consulted

 * Alston, Isabella and Kathryn Dixon (2014). Chinese Zodiac. (China: TAJ Books International) ISBN 978-1-84406-246-1
 * Hale, Gill (2002). The Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui. New York: Barnes and Noble Books. ISBN 0-7607-3741-X


 * Wu, Zhonxian and Karin Wu (2014, 2016). Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches:TianGan DiZhi. London and Philadelphia: Singing Dragon. ISBN 978-1-84819-208-9