Pig is the last sign in the Chinese zodiac. We’ve made it this far! Woo hoo. Pig hour is from 9 PM to 11 PM and comes right before midnight. It’s the first branch associated with winter. After pig time comes rat time, restarting the entire sequence.

I want to start with clearing some misconceptions. A bit similar to snake, pig is an animal symbol that has really different connotations in Asia than in the west. In the west where Abrahamic religions developed in a region of the world where pigs were not eaten because they carried disease, pigs are usually seen as dirty because of that association with disease.

In contrast, the character for pig is found in a very important Chinese character—pig (亥) is found in 家 which is the character for family or tradition.

The most well known myth around pig is probably Zhu Bajie. Zhu Bajie is the god of mercy and sex workers. Zhu Bajie is known for being gentle hearted, easy to seduce, and merciful. He snubs his nose at puritanical modes around sex and propriety. He cares about one thing—Zhu Bajie cares about pleasure. Zhu Bajie doesn’t just protect sex workers from harm. He also endows them with pleasure and abundance. Zhu Bajie wants sex workers to make a lot of money and feel a lot of pleasure.

So, this is pig. Pig is a sex symbol in China. Not only is pig a sex symbol because pigs represent pleasure, it is also a sex symbol because sex creates material prosperity. For this reason, pig as a zodiac sign is about material fortune.

What is in a home or a family? A home is where you put all of your best things. The character for pig is found in the character for family. You give to your kids because you love them. You give to your parents because you love them. You give to your siblings because you love them. The home is also where you have sex. It’s a site of pleasure. The pig is known for having a good heart.

Home is also where you eat pigs. A pig, a whole pig, is roasted on weddings and celebrations and new years. A roast pig is a cause for celebration. All you need in order to have a feast is really one roast pig. You can eat the belly, the feet, and the ears. The entire pig gives a whole family a lot of pleasure because you can share it together.

I think that pig people can be quite transgressive when it comes to pleasure and connection. Remember, Zhu Bajie isn’t the god of sex workers because he obeys a bunch of rites or rules. He’s the god of transgression. He likes to party, to drink, and sometimes to the extreme. Pigs can and will break rules not because they want to but because they fall in love with a vision.

In terms of the zodiac, pig is the most romantic sign. Pig is the one who is always chasing crushes and always falling head over heels.

As an animal, pigs are actually hunters and foragers. You might have heard of truffle pigs which are used to find truffle mushrooms. Because pigs are scent motivated, they have an impeccable sense of smell. They keep their heads down when they hunt and sniff out exactly what they are looking for. As the first branch of winter, pigs look into the hardened ground for rare treasures. They are not studying what is level with their faces but looking into the ground.

This is why pigs are dreamers. They are hunting and hunting things that are faraway. Pig people work not from their immediate surroundings but with a vision or faraway dream of what they seek. They fall for the distant, for the dream.

Sex isn’t just about physicality. If pig is about sexuality, then pig can’t just be about material wealth or physical pleasure. What pigs really excel at is spiritual imagination. This is the pig’s transgressiveness too. They play in not reality but with romance and dreams. Pigs excel at the art of fantasy. Fantasy is a theater of feelings. In this theater, pigs are good performers. They excel at fantasy because they allow almost anything to happen.

Abundance, pleasure, and fantasy. This is the pig. What more can you ask for?

In the story about the Jade river race, the pig came in last place. Did the pig care about coming in last? Actually, it did.

When the pig came in last, it actually started to cry. It didn’t want to come in last! Pigs are actually very ambitious people. They will charge when upset and they will fight for the right to survive. The pig didn’t want to come in last and started to cry when it did. What did the other animals do?

You have to remember that, before this moment, the tension of the day was palpable. The rat had tricked the cow. The snake latched onto the horse and freaked it out. The race was competitive and everyone wanted to do their best. Many of the animals, not all of them but many of them, wanted to win.

When the pig started to cry, every single other animal dropped their competitive spirit. They rushed in to comfort the pig. Don’t cry, don’t cry. You didn’t come in first but you finished the race which means that you will be immortal through the zodiac. The zodiac is a cycle and last comes before first. What does it matter that you were last instead of first when last is right next to first?

Pig is the last sign in the Chinese zodiac. It restarts the entire cycle again. In a way, pig comes before rat even though rat won the whole race. Pig is the first water branch and rat the second.

Sex workers didn’t just worship a pig because pigs are about material wealth and pleasure. They worshiped a pig because the pig is the god of mercy. A pig never punishes anyone for having desire or for feeling pleasure. In the story about the Jade river, the pig was the one who, by coming in last, made everyone else find their sense of mercy.

Pigs show their vulnerabilities. They use gentleness in conversation. They never ever punish. They always forgive. They understand compassion and they approach the world with mercy. This is why pig people, along with their constant transgressive debauchery, are known for their grace.

Pigs are romantics. Romantics are known for their grace. They do not punish but forgive once they see an experience for its beauty. They don’t blame the river for taking away its water during drought and they don’t hold it against a lover for closing up. They don’t punish for infidelity or stringiness. They just give grace. They give their hearts and they give their mercy.

This is what restarts the cycle of life—mercy. You have prey animals, predator animals, and everyone chasing each other along a river which is a source of freshwater. The animal that the zodiac ends on is an omnivore. Pigs eat everything and find a way to derive pleasure and nutrition from everything. They forgive the world by asking it for forgiveness in turn. This is the place where a new cycle of life can start, with abundance, pleasure, fantasy, and mercy.