First in the cycle — and it got there riding on somebody else's back.
In the story usually told about the twelve, there is a race across a river. The rat cannot swim it, so it rides over on the ox and jumps off at the bank. That tale was attached to the cycle long after the cycle existed; the animals are already listed against the twelve earthly branches on bamboo slips buried in the third century BC.
It is worth telling anyway, because it is honest about what the rat is for: quickness, and starting.
Is this your sign?
The Rat years are 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 and 2020.
But the zodiac year begins at Chinese New Year, not on 1 January, and that date moves between 21 January and 20 February. A birthday in January or the first half of February usually belongs to the animal before. There is a box on the product page that does that sum for you — type in your birth year and it picks the right pendant.
The pendant
- Branch Zi 子 · the double hour 23:00–01:00 · fixed element water
- Set with natural African opal, picked by hand for your order
- Solid 925 sterling silver, gold plating on the animal and the mount
- White cubic zirconia accent stones — laboratory-made, not mined, and we say so
- Pendant roughly 25 mm across, on a box chain. No size to choose
- Made after you order it, up to 10 days. Free tracked delivery
Your own zodiac year
Every twelfth year is your own animal's year again — běnmìngnián. Traditionally it is the year people wear their own sign, and it is the usual reason one of these is bought as a gift. The next Rat year is 2032.
All twelve signs · How the Chinese zodiac became jewellery
Carried as a mark of when you started. Some people feel something when they put one on. Some don't. Either way it is an old idea, accurately made. We make no medical or health claims.