Oriental calendar by year: which animals and how to read the table
The Eastern calendar has long gone beyond China and has become a familiar reference point for millions of people who identify their "animal" by the year of birth and attribute character traits to it. The system is based on 12 animals and five elements, forming a 60—year cycle, where each year receives its own combination of sign and element. Understanding this logic helps not only to find out who you are according to the Eastern horoscope, but also to accurately read any "year — animal — element" tables. All the details are in the Izvestia article.
The basics of the Eastern calendar
The Eastern (Chinese) calendar refers to the lunar-solar systems and is based on a succession of 12‑year zodiac cycles, each year symbolized by one animal. In addition to animals, five elements are connected — wood, fire, earth, metal and water, due to which a 60‑year long cycle is formed, in which each animal is combined with each element once.
This structure allows us to speak not just about the "year of the Tiger" or the "year of the Dog", but, for example, about the "year of the Blue Wooden Dragon" or the "Black Water Horse". In modern popular culture, only the animal is more often remembered, but the traditional system always takes into account the element of the year as part of its energy.
Animals by year: full circle
The classical zodiac of the Eastern calendar includes twelve animals in strict sequence: rat, bull, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. The cycle always starts with a Rat and ends with a Pig, after which it repeats again, but in a new combination with the elements.
Tradition attributes generalized character traits of people born in the corresponding year to each animal, for example, intelligence to a rat, courage to a Tiger, activity to a Horse. It is important to remember that the Eastern year does not start on January 1, but on Chinese New Year's Day — usually in late January or early February, so those born in January often belong to the previous sign.
Table of animals by year
Below is a table showing the distribution of animals by year for recent generations (without taking into account the exact date of the lunar New Year, that is, for those born from the end of January—February):
* To accurately determine the sign, those who were born in January or early February need to check the date of the Chinese New Year in a particular year.
How the 60‑year cycle works
The big cycle of the eastern calendar consists of 60 unique combinations of animal and element, which are not repeated within this segment. Each element "rules" for two years in a row, so one animal returns after 12 years in alliance with a new element — first wood, then fire, earth, metal and water.
For example, the years of the Rat in the XX–XXI centuries passed as a Wooden, Fiery, Earthen, Metal and Water Rat — this is how the sixty-year "epoch" of the calendar is formed. After 60 years, the cycle begins anew with the same sequence of combinations, which makes the system closed and predictable for calculating future dates.
An example of a fragment of a 60‑year-old table
Number in the cycle | Wording of the year | Examples of Gregorian years |
1 | The Blue Wooden Rat | |
2 | The Blue Wooden Bull | |
3 | Red Fire Tiger | |
4 | Red Fire Rabbit | |
5 | Yellow Earth Dragon | |
6 | Yellow Earth Snake |
How to read and use tables
Most online tables of the Eastern calendar are based on the same principle: the animal of the year is indicated in one column, and the corresponding Gregorian calendar years are indicated in the other. In the extended versions, they also add a color indicating the element, which allows you to immediately see which element a particular year of birth belongs to.
In order not to get confused, it is useful to follow a few simple rules.:
First, determine the year of birth according to the Gregorian calendar and check if the date falls before the Chinese New Year.
Then find this year in the row of the desired animal in the table and specify its element, if it is specified.
When comparing generations, use a step of 12 years for animals and 60 years for matching the animal and the element.
This approach allows you to navigate through any tables of the "eastern horoscope" without special knowledge and understand how the symbols are distributed over the decades. Thanks to the stable structure of the cycle, it is possible to know in advance under which sign the next year will take place and which combinations of animals and elements will be repeated in the next sixty years.
All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.
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