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For entertainment. The cycle pairs 12 animals with 5 elements, repeating every 60 years.
What The Chinese Zodiac Calculator Works Out
- Your animal: each year takes one of twelve animals in a fixed order (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig), found by counting from a known Rat year (4 AD). 1990 is a Horse year, 2024 a Dragon year and 2026 a Horse year again.
- Element: the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) each govern two consecutive years, so the full animal-element cycle (Metal Horse, Water Rabbit and so on) takes 60 years to repeat. That is why a 60th birthday is a landmark in Chinese culture.
- Traits: the traditional character attached to each animal, for entertainment rather than science, though the tradition is very much alive, visible in birth-rate spikes in Dragon years and the animal branding of each lunar new year.
- Born before Chinese New Year (advanced): the zodiac follows the lunar calendar, and the new year falls between 21 January and 20 February. A birthday before that date belongs to the previous animal: a late-January 1990 birthday is an Earth Snake rather than a Metal Horse. Choose "yes" if your birthday falls before the new year date for your birth year.
- Yin or yang (advanced): even-numbered years are yang (outward, active) and odd years yin (inward, receptive), which is also how the two years of each element are told apart: Yang Metal Horse (1990) and Yin Metal Goat (1991).
- Best matches (advanced): animals four years apart form a "trine" of similar temperaments and are traditionally the strongest friendships and partnerships. Each animal also has a "secret friend" (the Horse and Goat, for example) and a clash with the animal directly opposite on the wheel, six years away.
- Your next zodiac year (advanced): your animal returns every 12 years as your ben ming nian, traditionally a year to take extra care; wearing red is the classic remedy. The card shows the year, the age you reach and the element it carries.
- Compatibility (advanced): enter a second birth year and the calculator places the two animals on the wheel: same trine is a best match, opposite is a clash, secret friends are the ideal pairing and anything else is neutral.
- Table (advanced): either the next twelve years with their animals, elements and yin/yang, so you can see which year is yours, or every year of your animal from 1900 to 2100 with its element.