What Chinese Zodiac Is 1951? Year of the Metal Rabbit

When the 1951 Metal Rabbit year starts and ends

The 1951 Metal Rabbit year began at Lunar New Year on February 6, 1951 and lasted until January 26, 1952, the day before the next new year. Anyone born between January 1 and Feb 6 1951 therefore belongs to the Metal Tiger year that started in 1950, while someone born in early 1952, up to Jan 26, is still a Metal Rabbit. 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 Metal Rabbit combination also falls in 2011, sixty years apart, because five elements and twelve animals realign only once in each sixty-year cycle. Lunar New Year 1951 fell on a Tuesday, while the Western Sun was in Aquarius.

Metal Rabbit personality

Discerning, ambitious and quietly self-assured, the Metal Rabbit surprises people who expect a pushover. Metal presses on the Rabbit's Wood, giving the gentle sign a clearer outline and exacting standards. Those born in this year usually have fine taste and hold their ground firmly. Perfectionism and brooding over criticism are the shadows, eased by art, nature and a gentler inner voice.

Metal is the element of autumn and harvest, and a Metal year is traditionally said to sharpen whatever animal it meets. Descriptions associate it with determination, discipline, clear judgement and a strong code of principle. Metal-year people are often portrayed as decisive, self-reliant and willing to do difficult things because they are right. The element is linked with refinement and with cutting away what is unnecessary, so it tends to bring focus and high standards. Its traditional shadow is rigidity: Metal can become inflexible, proud or emotionally guarded, preferring to be correct over being close, and finding it hard to bend once a position is taken.

1951 in numerology and the twelve-year cycle

In numerology the year reduces to 7, the number of reflection, analysis and inner work, giving a 7 year a quieter, more searching character. The digits of 1951 add up to 16, which reduces to 7. In the twelve-year cycle the Rabbit is the fourth animal, earthly branch Mao, with Wood as its fixed element and Yin polarity. The year element is Metal, and in the five-element cycles metal controls Wood. The year before was the Metal Tiger and the year after is the Water Dragon.

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