Explainer / Year of the Tiger 2022: How to avoid bad luck this Lunar New Year – and why your Chinese zodiac might offend the Grand Duke of Jupiter
- The Chinese zodiac’s 12 signs come from Jupiter’s 12-year orbit and the star ‘opposing’ Jupiter in each of those years is the all-important ‘tai sui’
- Wearing the right colours or animal talismans during the year is said to help balance the bad luck of being born under a sign in opposition to the tiger – so where should you start?
Anyone with family elders who consult the Chinese almanac will likely have been gifted talismans and lucky charms, and warned off certain activities, whenever we approach the dawn of a Lunar New Year.
Those who dig a little deeper into what it is that your loved ones are warning you against will be familiar with the term “fan tai sui” which means “offending the Grand Duke of Jupiter”, which doesn’t explain all that much.
In fact, as most of Chinese lore is linked to astrology, many deities are personified stars and constellations in the night sky.
The 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac are based on divisions of Jupiter’s 12-year orbital cycle, with the star thought to oppose Jupiter during each lunar year personified as a heavenly general, cycle god, Grand Duke of Jupiter or tai sui.
Over the years, the number of tai suis rose from 12 to 60, based on combining the 12 divisions with the five Chinese elements of fire, earth, metal, water and wood. For example, February 1, 2022, will mark the start of the Year of the Water Tiger. Each of the gods’ features and attributes signifies the nature of that year. For example, if the tai sui of the year holds a pen, it foretells political unrest, while one holding a spear or sword means a challenging year with a lot of hard work ahead.
For any given year, if your birth sign clashes with the tai sui then a year of adversity or turmoil is ahead. There is an intricate chart to predict which sign offends which of the 60 grand dukes and, depending on their attributes, what sort of trouble lies in store in the year ahead.
There are quite a few approaches to appeasing the grand duke. The most direct would be to visit a temple with a tai sui shrine to perform a ritual called sip tai sui which gets you a protective talisman to protect you against adversities in the lunar year ahead. Do not forget to go back and thank the grand duke before the next new year though or the abated bad luck might be carried forward. Other protections include wearing talismans for the year, or certain feng shui elements that can be added to your home or office.
The two zodiac signs most likely to offend the grand duke in a given year are the sign that corresponds to that year (i.e. a tiger in the Year of the Tiger) and the one that sits directly opposite on the zodiac’s wheel (i.e. monkey during the Year of the Tiger). So let’s look at those first and then talk about two other potentially conflicting signs.
Year of the Tiger
(Those born in 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010)