It is the Year of the Snake in the Chinese lunar calendar. As we know, each year in the Chinese zodiac cycle is represented by one of 12 animals and their associated traits with the cycle repeating every 12 years. However, did you know that the 12 zodiacs also have months, days and hours attributed to them?
Is there a sss-pecial snake zodiac phenomenon occurring tomorrow (April 30)?
VERDICT:
TRUE
A rare alignment in the Chinese lunar calendar – the Snake year, Snake month, Snake day and Snake hour – will occur between 9am and 11am on April 30.
This unusual phenomenon is based on the ancient Chinese system of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches (tiangan dizhi), which is used to track years, months, days and hours.
Under this system, one week consists of 10 days and each day is divided into 12 two-hour segments, beginning at 11pm rather than midnight as observed in modern timekeeping.
Each year, month and hour is matched with an animal in the 12 Chinese zodiac – Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. This year marks the Year of the Snake.
“The rare occurrence of the Snake year, Snake month, Snake day and Snake hour will first fall on 30 April, between 9am and 11am,” announced Wang Kechao, head of the science popularisation division at the Purple Mountain Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
He added that this unusual alignment would happen three times in total.
“The next occurrences will be on May 12 and May 24,” he said in a report by China's national news agency, Xinhua.
