Metal Ox

Lunar New Year fell on Feb 20. Anyone born before that date belongs to the previous year (Rat).

Ox people have a certain thickness to them: good news and bad news both have to sink in before they land. While everyone else changes plans three times a week, they can stay with one unglamorous task for five years without announcing it or asking for credit. First meetings read as flat, with few words and a laugh that arrives half a beat late, but once they say yes you never have to ask again. What stays hidden is the stubbornness. Silence is not agreement; it usually means the verdict is already written.

Yi is a vine that climbs by wrapping, and Chou is the bank, the ox chewing slowly with its head down. The gold here lies in wet mud and takes a long time to show any shine. Such people do not hurry themselves; one task can stay in their hands for a year while everyone else taps a foot. They promise little and seldom hand back work that needs doing twice; the steadiness is ground out, not granted.