What Chinese Zodiac Is 1983? Year of the Water Pig

When the 1983 Water Pig year starts and ends

The 1983 Water Pig year began at Lunar New Year on February 13, 1983 and lasted until February 1, 1984, the day before the next new year. Anyone born between January 1 and Feb 13 1983 therefore belongs to the Water Dog year that started in 1982, while someone born in early 1984, up to Feb 1, is still a Water Pig. 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 Water Pig combination also falls in 2043, sixty years apart, because five elements and twelve animals realign only once in each sixty-year cycle. Lunar New Year 1983 fell on a Sunday, while the Western Sun was in Aquarius.

Water Pig personality

Empathetic, intuitive and deeply kind, the Water Pig shows its sign's sincerity in purest form. The Pig's fixed element is Water, so this year doubles it, and tradition describes a gentle diplomat who sees the good in everyone. People born now are often imaginative and generous. Over-trusting and avoidance are the usual cautions; clear boundaries help. Friends often seek them out for comfort and kindness.

Water is the element of winter, stillness and depth, and a Water year is traditionally said to give any animal intuition, flexibility and a gift for communication. Descriptions associate it with wisdom, empathy and the ability to find a way around obstacles rather than through them. Water-year people are often portrayed as perceptive listeners, diplomatic and quietly persuasive, able to sense the mood of a room before anyone speaks. The element is linked with reflection and with the unseen, so it adds an inward, thoughtful layer. Its shadow, in most readings, is drift: indecision, secrecy, and a tendency to take on the shape of whoever is nearby.

1983 in numerology and the twelve-year cycle

In numerology the digits of this year reduce to 3, associated with expression, creativity and sociability, so a 3 year is described as lively and communicative. The digits of 1983 add up to 21, which reduces to 3. In the twelve-year cycle the Pig is the twelfth animal, earthly branch Hai, with Water as its fixed element and Yin polarity. The year element is Water, and in the five-element cycles water year element matches the fixed element. The year before was the Water Dog and the year after is the Wood Rat.

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