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Home > Chinese Holidays > Articles > Chinese Zodiac

Chinese Zodiac
by W.Holidays

The Chinese Calendar is a based on the cycles of the moon. The start of the New Year begins anywhere from late January to mid-February. A complete lunar cycle takes 60 years. It is composed of five cycles that are 12 years each. Each 12-year segment is named after an animal. According to legend, Buddha called all the animals to him before he departed from earth. Only twelve came and as a reward to them, he named the years after them in the order they arrive (the order is listed below). It is believed the animal ruling of the year you are born effects your personality and "it is the animal that hides in your heart".

The Chinese calendar uses the stem-branch system. The branches are the 12 years. There are ten stems that are used in the counting system. The stems are metal, water, wood, fire and soil; each having a yin and a yang side. There are a lot more intricacies in the system, but you should also know that the elements correlate to colors. Metal=white or golden, water=black, wood=green, fire=red, and soil=brown.

When you put all of this together you end up with the following:
2007 is the Year of the Red Pig
2008 is the Year of the Brown Rat
2009 is the Year of the Brown Ox
2010 is the Year of the White or Golden Tiger
2011 is the Year of the White or Golden Rabbit
2012 is the Year of the Black Dragon
2013 is the Year of the Black Snake
2014 is the Year of the Green Horse
2015 is the Year of the Green Sheep
2016 is the Year of the Red Monkey
2017 is the Year of the Red Rooster

What's your sign?
Rat 1960 1972 1984 1996
Ox 1961 1973 1985 1997
Tiger 1962 1974 1986 1998
Rabbit 1963 1975 1987 1999
Dragon 1964 1976 1988 2000
Snake 1965 1977 1989 2001
Horse 1966 1978 1990 2002
Sheep 1967 1979 1991 2003
Monkey 1968 1980 1992 2004
Rooster 1969 1981 1993 2005
Dog 1970 1982 1994 2006
Pig 1971 1983 1995 2007

Please note the lunar calendar New Year determines which zodiac sign you fall under. If you were born in early January you should follow the zodiac symbol for the previous year. If you are born in late January or early February it gets tricky. Go here and plug in your date.  If the year you were born is not listed, keep adding twelve to your birth year until you match one of the years listed.

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modified April 6, 2008




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