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In Vietnam, Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year) is called Tet

On Tet Giao Thua (New Year’s Eve), the Vietnamese offer traditional dishes to ancestors at the family altar, asking for their blessings.

The following Tet day, people dress in new clothes and usually go to a Buddhist temple to pray for health and happiness.

Tet – The Lunar New Year Festival in Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam.

Tet – The Lunar New Year Festival in Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam.

Image via Markus Winkler/Unsplash

While the zodiac beliefs are very similar between the two cultures, there is one key animal that stands out — the cat!

Vietnam and China share 10 of the zodiac calendar’s animals — the rat, tiger, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

What’s missing are the rabbit and the ox, which are replaced by the cat and the buffalo, respectively.

There are many theories as to why the Vietnamese chose to switch two of the animals, but none are definitive.

Image via Reddit

Nguyen Hieu Tin, an expert on traditional Vietnamese culture, said it may be because of the importance of paddy fields to farmers

“Rice is a huge part of Vietnam’s agriculture, but with the threat of many rats in the fields, the cats [which can hunt them] are a popular animal for the Vietnamese,” he told AFP, as reported by South China Morning Post.

He added that it was also a possibility that the Vietnamese didn’t want two years with similar animals, as rats and rabbits are closely linked.

A man rides a bicycle past a cat statue at Thong Nhat Park in Hanoi, ahead of the Lunar New Year 2023.

A man rides a bicycle past a cat statue at Thong Nhat Park in Hanoi, ahead of the Lunar New Year 2023.

Image via VOA News

Another common explanation is that the zodiac got somewhat lost in translation

According to Northwest Asian Weekly, in old Chinese, the word for ‘rabbit’ (卯) is pronounced mǎo. At the same time, māo means ‘cat’ but is spelled 猫. The pronunciation is the same, however the intonation is different.

While the commonly used word for rabbit in Chinese now is tu (兔), the old-fashioned term is still used traditionally, as seen with ‘Year of the Rabbit’ (乙卯).

It is speculated that the Vietnamese people confused mǎo (rabbit – 卯) with māo (cat – 猫). It gets even more confusing when you learn that mèo is ‘cat’ in Vietnamese too!

Meanwhile, others offer a much simpler explanation

Dog and cats are both important animals in Vietnamese culture as one is kept to guard homes, while the other protects food from rats.

According to Chinese Fortune Calendar, cats are pets that are naturally closer to humans than rabbits. As a result of this, the animal was preferred and chosen over rabbits.

Image via buian_photos/Unsplash

Here are some zodiac cat facts:

Cat Years:
6 February 1951 – 26 January 1952 (Metal Cat)
25 January 1963 – 12 February 1964 (Water Cat)
11 February 1975 – 30 January 1976 (Wood Cat)
29 January 1987 – 16 February 1988 (Fire Cat)
16 February 1999 – 4 February 2000 (Earth Cat)
11 February 2011 – 22 January 2012 (Metal Cat)
22 January 2023 – 9 February 2024 (Water Cat)

Cat Best Matches:
Pig, Goat, Cat, Dog

Cat Worst Matches:
Rooster, Rat

Cat Attributes:
Intelligent, clever, agile, and subtle, with far-sighted vision. They treat others with kindness, and are always ready to help those in need. At work, those born in the Year of the Cat succeed in areas that need precise calculation, business, or art.

They are known to be optimistic, honest, and easy to forgive others, as well as being sensitive and emotional.

Image via Li Lin/Unsplash

So, were you born in the Year of the Cat?

Read more wholesome cat stories here:

Get ready for Chinese New Year:

Did You Know: Cats Are Part Of The Zodiac In Vietnam, Instead Of Rabbits!