The Grand Duke of the Year

Tai Sui is a Chinese astral deity connected with the planet Jupiter and, more precisely, with an invisible counter-Jupiter used to reckon the twelve-year cycle, and, by extension, with the sixty gods of the sexagenary cycle, each of whom governs one year in turn. In popular belief Tai Sui, the Grand Duke of the Year, presides over the fortunes of the year, and it was held dangerous to offend him, for instance by digging or building in the direction he was thought to occupy. Those whose birth-sign clashes with the ruling Tai Sui of a given year are traditionally reckoned to be in for an unlucky year, and perform rites or make offerings at temples of the sixty Tai Sui to appease him and avert misfortune, a practice, sometimes called an Taisui, that remains common in the Chinese world and at Daoist and folk temples. The system ties the reckoning of time to the everyday management of luck, and Tai Sui devotions are among the more frequently observed of popular ritual customs.