Chinese New Year is coming up on February 12, 2021, and we will enter the Year of the Metal Ox. If you’ve ever wondered which of the twelve animals you were born under, read on. Try to lose Western prejudices about these animals (e.g.: rats are creepy or snakes are unscrupulous creatures, etc.) and instead view them each in an Asian perspective.

We all know that our Gregorian calendar starts on January 1 and ends on December 31. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so is somewhat different than the Lunar Calendar, which begins on February 4 and ends on February 3 each year. A lunisolar calendar takes into consideration the moon phase AND the time of the solar year, which is either tropical or sidereal. If the solar year is a tropical year, then the lunisolar year will give an indication of the season. If it is a sidereal year, then the calendar will predict the constellation in which the full moon will occur. Most lunisolar years have 12 months, but 13 months occur every few years.

The Tale of the 12 Zodiac Animals

The Origin of the Zodiac

The tale begins with the Jade Emperor, or Buddha, who summoned all the animals of the universe for a race. 

There are many variations of the story.  Some say that the Jade Emperor summoned all the animals on his birthday for a race to create the Chinese Zodiac.  Others say that it was in fact the Buddha who did.  Both stories are essentially the same, nevertheless, excluding some minor details.

According to myths, the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac were selected through a race. This race was meant to create a time measurement for the people. There could only be twelve winners and in order to win, the animals had to cross a rapid current river and reach the finish line on the shore.

The rat was the worst swimmer in the animal kingdom, but was smart. He discovered that the fastest way to the river is to hop on top of the ox. The generous ox agreed to carry him across the river and when they made it to shore, the rat jumped in front of the ox and came first in the race. The ox came in second and the tiger finished in third.

All of a sudden, a loud thumping sound came: it was the rabbit. It jumped from one stone to another across the river and the grabbed onto a log floating by and drifted to the finish line earning the fourth place in the race. In fifth place was the dragon, but everyone thought that it would come in first because it could fly. The dragon told Jade Emperor that it had to stop a couple of times to help some villagers. And on its way to the finish line, it saw a little rabbit on a log and decided to give a little puff of air to help it get to shore. After the dragon, the horse came galloping towards the finish line. The sneaky snake was hidden behind the horse’s foot. It suddenly appeared and the horse was scared. The snake took advantage of this and landed itself in sixth place, and the horse landed in seventh.

Soon after, the monkey, the rooster, and the sheep landed onto shore. Unlike some of the previous animals, these three actually helped each other to get to the finish line. The rooster found a raft, and the monkey and sheep hopped on. Working hard together through the water currents and the weeds, they reached shore: the sheep came in eighth place, the monkey in ninth place, and the rooster in tenth place. In eleventh place was the dog. Even though it was a great swimmer, it was late. It told the emperor that it needed a bath, and the fresh water from the river was too tempting. Right when the emperor was going to close the race, an “oink” sound was heard: it was the pig. The pig felt hungry in the middle of the race, so it stopped, ate something, and then fell asleep. After it awoke, it finished the race in twelfth place and became the last animal to arrive.

The order of the lunar calendar follows the outcome of the race, where the rat is the first animal to start the sequence, and the pig is the last. After the pig, the sequence starts over again.

Your Chinese Birth Year:

It can be pretty confusing to figure out your Chinese birth year and subsequent Zodiac animal, because it doesn’t always coincide with your (Gregorian) birth year.  Because Chinese New Year begins in late January to mid-February, those born during that time can be considered to have been born in the previous year.  For example, someone born on February 18, 1996 is considered to be born in the previous year as someone born on February 19, 1996!

Below is a graph of each of the animal’s representative years:

Years of the Rat

02/05/1924-01/23/1925	01/24/1936-02/10/1937	02/10/1948-01/28/1949
01/28/1960-02/14/1961	02/15/1972-02/02/1973	02/02/1984-02/19/1985
02/19/1996-02/06/1997	02/06/2008-01/25/2009	01/25/2020-02/12/2021

Years of the Ox

02/06/1913-01/25/1914	01/24/1925-02/12/1926	02/11/1937-01/30/1938
01/29/1949-02/16/1950	02/15/1961-02/04/1962	02/03/1973-01/22/1974
02/20/1985-02/08/1986	02/07/1997-01/27/1998	01/26/2009-02/13/2010

Years of the Tiger

01/26/1914-02/13/1915	02/13/1926-02/01/1927	01/31/1938-02/18/1939
02/17/1950-02/05/1951	02/05/1962-01/24/1963	01/23/1974-02/10/1975
02/09/1986-01/28/1987	01/28/1998-02/15/1999	02/14/2010-02/02/2011

Years of the Rabbit

02/14/1915-02/02/1916	02/02/1927-01/22/1928	02/19/1939-02/08/1940
02/06/1951-01/26/1952	01/25/1963-02/12/1964	02/11/1975-01/30/1976
01/29/1987-02/16/1988	02/16/1999-02/04/2000	02/03/2011-01/22/2012

Years of the Dragon

02/03/1916-01/22/1917	01/23/1928-02/09/1929	02/09/1940-01/26/1941
01/27/1952-02/13/1953	02/13/1964-02/01/1965	01/31/1976-02/17/1977
02/17/1988-02/05/1989	02/05/2000-01/23/2001	01/23/2012-02/09/2013

Years of the Snake

01/23/1917-02/10/1918	02/10/1929-01/29/1930	01/27/1941-02/14/1942
02/14/1953-02/02/1954	02/02/1965-01/20/1966	02/18/1977-02/06/1978
02/06/1989-01/26/1990	01/24/2001-02/11/2002	02/10/2013-01/30/2014

Years of the Horse

02/11/1918-01/31/1919	01/30/1930-02/16/1931	02/15/1942-02/04/1943
02/03/1954-01/23/1955	01/21/1966-02/08/1967	02/07/1978-01/27/1979
01/27/1990-02/14/1991	02/12/2002-01/31/2003	01/31/2014-02/18/2015

Years of the Goat/Ram/Sheep

02/01/1919-02/19/1920	02/17/1931-02/05/1932	02/05/1943-01/24/1944
01/24/1955-02/11/1956	02/09/1967-01/29/1968	01/28/1979-02/15/1980
02/15/1991-02/03/1992	02/01/2003-01/21/2004	02/19/2015-02/07/2016

Years of the Monkey

02/20/1920-02/07/1921	02/06/1932-01/25/1933	01/25/1944-02/12/1945
02/12/1956-01/30/1957	01/30/1968-02/16/1969	02/16/1980-02/04/1981
02/04/1992-01/22/1993	01/22/2004-02/08/2005	02/08/2016-01/27/2017

Years of the Rooster

02/08/1921-01/27/1922	01/26/1933-02/13/1934	02/13/1945-02/01/1946
01/31/1957-02/17/1958	02/17/1969-02/05/1970	02/05/1981-01/24/1982
01/23/1993-02/09/1994	02/09/2005-01/28/2006	01/28/2017-02/15/2018

Years of the Dog

01/28/1922-02/15/1923	02/14/1934-02/03/1935	02/02/1946-01/21/1947
02/18/1958-02/07/1959	02/06/1970-01/26/1971	01/25/1982-02/12/1983
02/10/1994-01/30/1995	01/29/2006-02/17/2007	02/16/2018-02/04/2019

Years of the Pig

02/16/1923-02/04/1924	02/04/1935-01/23/1936	01/22/1947-02/09/1948
02/08/1959-01/27/1960	01/27/1971-02/24/1972	02/13/1983-02/01/1984
01/31/1995-02/18/1996	02/18/2007-02/06/2008	02/05/2019-01/24/2020

Next week

We’ll tell more about the individual personality characteristics of each of the Zodiac animals and how they get along. Be sure to look up the animal of your partner, family and close friends this week as well as your own animal. It will help you understand and appreciate their personality attributes and the best ways to cope with your inherent differences.

In conclusion

We’re doing a whole series on Chinese New Year, starting with today’s entry. Future entries include:

• Your Chinese Zodiac Personality 12/20/2020
• Chinese New Year Celebration Ideas 01/03/2021
• Forecast for the Year of the Metal Ox 01/17/2021
• Predictions for You in 2021 01/31/2021

Most of us are looking forward to leaving 2020 behind (in the dust!) and moving into a fresh new year. If you’re thinking about remodeling a portion on your home, contact us through this website. We’ll figure out if this is a good year to remodel for you and your family.

万事如意

wànshì rúyì

May everything you wish go well and smoothly.