Chinese zodiac by year of birth

By your year of birth: each year belongs to one of twelve animals, and the circle comes back around every twelve years. Enter your year above and I will name the sign. One catch: if you were born in January or early February, before Chinese New Year, the year still counts as the previous one.

Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar and drifts between late January and mid February. If you were born in those weeks, check your sign against the exact date: the year turns at the new moon closest to February, and midnight on December 31 has nothing to do with it.

Besides the animal, each year carries one of five elements, Metal, Water, Wood, Fire or Earth, on a ten-year cycle. It gives the sign a tint: a Fire Horse burns hotter than a Water one. The full round of animal and element comes back once every sixty years.

No. It describes a cast of character assigned to the year you were born, the same way sun signs do. It schedules no events, and I do not prophesy fate from an animal.