The animal itself
Swans pair for years and defend territory aggressively enough to break a human arm, which sits oddly with the symbolism of serenity attached to them.1 of 2 calendars · 70 searches a month
Swan
The swan is read as composure over visible effort. It appears in one of the two birth calendars we cover. The two are presented online as interchangeable, yet they name the same animal on only 17 days of 365 — 4.7% of the year.
Which calendar assigns it, and when
Celtic calendar
2 September – 29 September
Its tree
Vine
Only the Celtic calendar assigns this one. Anyone born in these dates gets a different animal from the other system — the two agree on 4.7% of days →
What it stands for, and where that came from
Composure over visible effort — the part above the water.
Honoured in: Irish Children of Lir; Greek transformation myths; the "swan song" comes from Aesop and has no basis — swans do not sing before death.
Counted across all 39 animals
Where the swan sits
22/39
animals here carry a birth-date range. The other 17 are symbols
people choose, not ones a date assigns.
4.7%
of the year — 17 days out of 365 —
is where the two calendars name the same animal. The rest of the time they
disagree.
31st
most looked-up of the 39 animals we cover.
Both calendars are published online as though interchangeable. They are not, and the disagreement is the reason two sites can give you different animals for the same birthday. How the two calendars differ →
Searched about as often
Swan is ranked 31 of 39 by search demand. Of all 39 animals here, 22 sit in one of the two birth-date calendars and 17 are searched as symbols only.