Earthly Branches
Videos
Page
The twelve Earthly Branches or Terrestrial Branches are a Chinese ordering system used throughout East Asia in various contexts, including its ancient dating system, astrological traditions, zodiac and ordinals.
A carving of the Chinese zodiac on the ceiling of the gate to Kushida Shrine in Fukuoka, Japan
PDF: A study of the cardinal directions chart
Chinese zodiac
Videos
Page
The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the Chinese calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. In traditional Chinese culture, the Chinese zodiac is very important and exists as a reflection of Chinese philosophy and culture. Chinese folkways held that one's personality is related to the attributes of their zodiac animal. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remain popular in many East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, and Thailand.
Chinese zodiac
A stone carving of the Chinese zodiac.
This image depicts a scene from "The Great Race" folk story, in which the Ox carries the Rat across the river.
A chart indicating good and bad bloodletting days and when to guard against demons. Detail: The chart contains a sme ba (9 figures symbolizing the elements in geomancy) in the center with the Chinese bagua (eight trigrams) surrounded by twelve animals of months and years.