What Chinese Zodiac Is 1949? Year of the Earth Ox

When the 1949 Earth Ox year starts and ends

The 1949 Earth Ox year began at Lunar New Year on January 29, 1949 and lasted until February 16, 1950, the day before the next new year. Anyone born between January 1 and Jan 29 1949 therefore belongs to the Earth Rat year that started in 1948, while someone born in early 1950, up to Feb 16, is still a Earth Ox. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, which is why the start date moves between January 21 and February 20 instead of staying on January 1. The same Earth Ox combination also falls in 2009, sixty years apart, because five elements and twelve animals realign only once in each sixty-year cycle. Lunar New Year 1949 fell on a Saturday, while the Western Sun was in Aquarius.

Earth Ox personality

Here is the Ox in its purest form, since the Ox's fixed element is Earth and the year doubles it. Patience, honesty and an almost limitless capacity for steady work define the traditional portrait. People born in this year are often a calm presence in emergencies and keep promises meticulously. Tradition advises them to invite novelty and to voice affection rather than only demonstrate it.

Earth sits at the centre of the five-element wheel, and an Earth year is traditionally said to give any animal steadiness, patience and a practical turn of mind. Descriptions associate it with reliability, honesty and a talent for holding things together, whether that means a family, a budget or a team in a difficult season. Earth-year people are often portrayed as grounded, fair and good at turning ideas into workable plans. The element is linked with nourishment and care, so it carries a quiet generosity. Its shadow, in most readings, is heaviness: worry, stubbornness and a reluctance to move until every risk has been weighed twice.

1949 in numerology and the twelve-year cycle

In numerology the year reduces to 5, the number of change, freedom and movement, and a 5 year is usually described as restless and full of variety. The digits of 1949 add up to 23, which reduces to 5. In the twelve-year cycle the Ox is the second animal, earthly branch Chou, with Earth as its fixed element and Yin polarity. The year element is Earth, and in the five-element cycles earth year element matches the fixed element. The year before was the Earth Rat and the year after is the Metal Tiger.

In the traditional sexagenary count the year is called Ji-Chou: Ji is the Earth heavenly stem and Chou is the Ox's earthly branch. Stems and branches alternate between yang and yin together, which is why yin stems only ever meet yin animals.