Happy New Year! Today, January 23, 2012 starts the year of the dragon in the traditional Chinese calendar. There are twelve animals (including the mythological dragon) associated with the Chinese calendar - rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.Like Western astrology, the ancient Chinese believed that the animal sign you were born under somehow influences your life. And, like Western astrology, some Chinese still believe it to be true even though it's complete nonsense (I've seen some
news stories suggesting a lot of Chinese births this year because the dragon is an "auspicious" sign).
Any way, these animal "signs" are even more complicated (just as Western astrology is more complicated than the 12 Sun signs would suggest). It's actually a 60 year cycle. The first cycle is of the 5 "elements" - wood, fire, earth, metal, and water - from Chinese philosophy in their masculine (Yang) and feminine (Yin) forms.
As
Wikipedia explains: "This combination creates the 60-year cycle due to the least amount of years (least common multiple) it would take to get from
Yang Wood Rat to its next iteration, which always starts with
Yang Wood Rat and ends with
Yin Water Boar."
Two iterations of the 60-year cycle are shown below. We are currently in the cycle which began in 1984. Since the Chinese New Year always begins in late January / early February, it's not enough simply to know the year of your birth to determine your "sign". I wasn't just born in the year of the Ox, I'm a Yin Metal Ox, whatever the hell that means (according to
this site, it means I'm confrontational and conceited - maybe there is something to this after all!).
Years (1924–1983) | Associated Element | Associated Animal | Years (1984–2043) |
Feb 05 1924 – Jan 23 1925 | Yang Wood | Rat | Feb 02 1984 – Feb 19 1985 |
Jan 24 1925 – Feb 12 1926 | Yin Wood | Ox | Feb 20 1985 – Feb 08 1986 |
Feb 13 1926 – Feb 01 1927 | Yang Fire | Tiger | Feb 01 1986 – Jan 28 1987 |
Feb 02 1927 – Jan 22 1928 | Yin Fire | Rabbit | Jan 29 1987 – Feb 16 1988 |
Jan 23 1928 – Feb 09 1929 | Yang Earth | Dragon | Feb 17 1988 – Feb 05 1989 |
Feb 10 1929 – Jan 29 1930 | Yin Earth | Snake | Feb 06 1989 – Jan 26 1990 |
Jan 30 1930 – Feb 16 1931 | Yang Metal | Horse | Jan 27 1990 – Feb 14 1991 |
Feb 17 1931 – Feb 05 1932 | Yin Metal | Goat | Feb 15 1991 – Feb 03 1992 |
Feb 06 1932 – Jan 25 1933 | Yang Water | Monkey | Feb 04 1992 – Jan 22 1993 |
Jan 26 1933 – Feb 13 1934 | Yin Water | Rooster | Jan 23 1993 – Feb 09 1994 |
Feb 14 1934 – Feb 03 1935 | Yang Wood | Dog | Feb 10 1994 – Jan 30 1995 |
Feb 04 1935 – Jan 23 1936 | Yin Wood | Pig | Jan 31 1995 – Feb 18 1996 |
Jan 24 1936 – Feb 10 1937 | Yang Fire | Rat | Feb 19 1996 – Feb 06 1997 |
Feb 11 1937 – Jan 30 1938 | Yin Fire | Ox | Feb 07 1997 – Jan 27 1998 |
Jan 31 1938 – Feb 18 1939 | Yang Earth | Tiger | Jan 28 1998 – Feb 15 1999 |
Feb 19 1939 – Feb 07 1940 | Yin Earth | Rabbit | Feb 16 1999 – Feb 04 2000 |
Feb 08 1940 – Jan 26 1941 | Yang Metal | Dragon | Feb 05 2000 – Jan 23 2001 |
Jan 27 1941 – Feb 14 1942 | Yin Metal | Snake | Jan 24 2001 – Feb 11 2002 |
Feb 15 1942 – Feb 04 1943 | Yang Water | Horse | Feb 12 2002 – Jan 31 2003 |
Feb 05 1943 – Jan 24 1944 | Yin Water | Goat | Feb 01 2003 – Jan 21 2004 |
Jan 25 1944 – Feb 12 1945 | Yang Wood | Monkey | Jan 22 2004 – Feb 08 2005 |
Feb 13 1945 – Feb 01 1946 | Yin Wood | Rooster | Feb 09 2005 – Jan 28 2006 |
Feb 02 1946 – Jan 21 1947 | Yang Fire | Dog | Jan 29 2006 – Feb 17 2007 |
Jan 22 1947 – Feb 09 1948 | Yin Fire | Pig | Feb 18 2007 – Feb 06 2008 |
Feb 10 1948 – Jan 28 1949 | Yang Earth | Rat | Feb 07 2008 – Jan 25 2009 |
Jan 29 1949 – Feb 16 1950 | Yin Earth | Ox | Jan 26 2009 – Feb 13 2010 |
Feb 17 1950 – Feb 05 1951 | Yang Metal | Tiger | Feb 14 2010 – Feb 02 2011 |
Feb 06 1951 – Jan 26 1952 | Yin Metal | Rabbit | Feb 03 2011 – Jan 22 2012 |
Jan 27 1952 – Feb 13 1953 | Yang Water | Dragon | Jan 23 2012 – Feb 09 2013 |
Feb 14 1953 – Feb 02 1954 | Yin Water | Snake | Feb 10 2013 – Jan 30 2014 |
Feb 03 1954 – Jan 23 1955 | Yang Wood | Horse | Jan 31 2014 – Feb 18 2015 |
Jan 24 1955 – Feb 11 1956 | Yin Wood | Goat | Feb 19 2015 – Feb 07 2016 |
Feb 12 1956 – Jan 30 1957 | Yang Fire | Monkey | Feb 08 2016 – Jan 27 2017 |
Jan 31 1957 – Feb 17 1958 | Yin Fire | Rooster | Jan 28 2017 – Feb 18 2018 |
Feb 18 1958 – Feb 07 1959 | Yang Earth | Dog | Feb 19 2018 – Feb 04 2019 |
Feb 08 1959 – Jan 27 1960 | Yin Earth | Pig | Feb 05 2019 – Jan 24 2020 |
Jan 28 1960 – Feb 14 1961 | Yang Metal | Rat | Jan 25 2020 – Feb. 11 2021 |
Feb 15 1961 – Feb 04 1962 | Yin Metal | Ox | Feb 12 2021 – Jan 31 2022 |
Feb 05 1962 – Jan 24 1963 | Yang Water | Tiger | Feb 01 2022 – Jan 21 2023 |
Jan 25 1963 – Feb 12 1964 | Yin Water | Rabbit | Jan 22 2023 – Feb 09 2024 |
Feb 13 1964 – Feb 01 1965 | Yang Wood | Dragon | Feb 10 2024 – Jan 28 2025 |
Feb 02 1965 – Jan 20 1966 | Yin Wood | Snake | Jan 29 2025 – Feb 16 2026 |
Jan 21 1966 – Feb 08 1967 | Yang Fire | Horse | Feb 17 2026 – Feb 05 2027 |
Feb 09 1967 – Jan 29 1968 | Yin Fire | Goat | Feb 06 2027 – Jan 25 2028 |
Jan 30 1968 – Feb 16 1969 | Yang Earth | Monkey | Jan 26 2028 – Feb 12 2029 |
Feb 17 1969 – Feb 05 1970 | Yin Earth | Rooster | Feb 13 2029 – Feb 02 2030 |
Feb 06 1970 – Jan 26 1971 | Yang Metal | Dog | Feb 03 2030 – Jan 22 2031 |
Jan 27 1971 – Feb 14 1972 | Yin Metal | Pig | Jan 23 2031 – Feb 10 2032 |
Feb 15 1972 – Feb 02 1973 | Yang Water | Rat | Feb 11 2032 – Jan 30 2033 |
Feb 03 1973 – Jan 22 1974 | Yin Water | Ox | Jan 31 2033 – Feb 18 2034 |
Jan 23 1974 – Feb 10 1975 | Yang Wood | Tiger | Feb 19 2034 – Feb 07 2035 |
Feb 11 1975 – Jan 30 1976 | Yin Wood | Rabbit | Feb 08 2035 – Jan 27 2036 |
Jan 31 1976 – Feb 17 1977 | Yang Fire | Dragon | Jan 28 2036 – Feb 14 2037 |
Feb 18 1977 – Feb 06 1978 | Yin Fire | Snake | Feb 15 2037 – Feb 03 2038 |
Feb 07 1978 – Jan 27 1979 | Yang Earth | Horse | Feb 04 2038 – Jan 23 2039 |
Jan 28 1979 – Feb 15 1980 | Yin Earth | Goat | Jan 24 2039 – Feb 11 2040 |
Feb 16 1980 – Feb 04 1981 | Yang Metal | Monkey | Feb 12 2040 – Jan 31 2041 |
Feb 05 1981 – Jan 24 1982 | Yin Metal | Rooster | Feb 01 2041 – Jan 21 2042 |
Jan 25 1982 – Feb 12 1983 | Yang Water | Dog | Jan 22 2042 – Feb 09 2043 |
Feb 13 1983 – Feb 01 1984 | Yin Water | Pig | Feb 10 2043 – Jan 29 2044 |
Why does the Chinese New Year start in January/February and why does it change each year? You may have noticed that today also happens to be the astronomical New Moon (0739 UTC). Not surprisingly, this ancient 60-year cycle is based on a lunar calendar (all ancient cultures basically used lunar calendars).
Technically, it's based on a lunisolar calendar - a lunar calendar that periodically has an extra month inserted (intercalary month) to keep it in sync with the solar year. Two basic rules of this calendar are that the first day of each month begins at midnight on the day of the full Moon and that a year normally has twelve lunar months.
As with all lunar calendars, this causes a problem because the synodic month, or cycle of lunar phases, is 29.53 days long while the tropical year, or time from solstice to solstice, is 365.24 days. Dividing one by the other gives (365.24 / 29.53) or 12.4 phases per year. This means that every 2.5 years, your calendar will be off by one month. This is where the intercalary month comes into play. Every 2-3 years, you insert another month into the calendar. Various rules (which we'll ignore) determine when to insert the extra month.
Generally, but not always for complicated reasons, the Chinese New Year will fall on the second new Moon after the Winter Solstice. Anyway, as one of my former colleagues always used to say, "It's a poor day you don't learn something new!"
So, best wishes for a happy and prosperous Yang Water Dragon year!
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