When does the animal year start and end?

The animal year does not start from New Year's Day, nor from the beginning of New Year's Day, but according to the beginning of spring in the 24 solar terms. In other words, the animal year began in beginning of spring that year and ended in beginning of spring the following year.

Take 202 1 year as an example. Everyone who is a cow was born in this year, and the beginning of spring time of 202 1 is February 3, 202 1. From this day on, all friends who belong to the ox will enter the animal year. Until February 4, 2022, beginning of spring, the Year of the Ox officially ended and the Year of the Rat began to enter. Therefore, there is a folk saying that people avoid spring in the Year of the Animal, which means avoiding the day when spring begins.

Zodiac taboo

Before the animal year, it was the year of the return of the five elements, and now it refers to the year of the lunar calendar 12, commonly known as the year of the zodiac. In traditional customs, the year of birth is usually considered as an unlucky year, so people usually call it the threshold year. Its customs include wearing a red belt, a red vest and red underwear. It has pinned the good wishes of the working people to exorcise evil spirits and avoid disasters.

The emphasis on red in the animal year should come from the worship of red in the traditional culture of China, which is beneficial to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. This concept has existed since primitive society. Red is the color of the sun, blood and fire. With the changes of the times, this idea of advocating red has not changed. Stick red couplets, wedding dresses, red hijab, red candles, new red sheets, etc. In old-fashioned weddings, people should use red to add joy.