The Vietnamese zodiac (Vietnamese: Mười hai con giáp) is the traditional Vietnamese classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. The Viet lunar calendar is divided into 60-year cycles known as hồi. Each of these consists of five 12-year animal cycles.[1]
The Vietnamese zodiac is originated from the Chinese zodiac in its usage and arrangement of animals, but replaces the ox with the water buffalo and the rabbit with the cat.[1] The Vietnamese zodiac uses cat instead of rabbit due to the pronunciation of the rabbit in Chinese writing: 卯 is very similar to the Vietnamese word Mèo for cat.[2]
