What Chinese Zodiac Is 1996? Year of the Fire Rat

1996 Lunar New Year: start and end dates

Lunar New Year opened the Fire Rat year on February 19, 1996, and the year ran to February 6, 1997. So a birth date of Feb 19, 1996 or later counts as Fire Rat, and so do early 1997 birthdays through Feb 6; births in 1996 before Feb 19 still belong to the Wood Pig. That moving boundary comes from the lunisolar calendar, in which the new year starts with the second new moon after the winter solstice in most years, so its Gregorian date shifts by up to a month from one year to the next. Look sixty years either side and the pairing repeats: 1936 are Fire Rat years too. That Monday new year arrived with the Sun in Pisces in the Western zodiac.

What the Fire Rat is like

In a Fire Rat year, the Rat's shrewd calculation meets passionate urgency. Classical readings describe those born now as bold, persuasive and willing to take a public stand, while Water underneath keeps their timing sharp. They are rarely bored or boring. Their growth usually lies in letting caution and impulse cooperate, and in staying with worthwhile projects after the first thrill fades.

Belonging to the south and to the height of summer, Fire brings brightness, drive and visibility to any sign it colours. Classical texts connect it with enthusiasm, leadership and the urge to be seen and to make an impression. A Fire stem tends to make an animal more expressive, more daring and more openly emotional than its usual reputation suggests. People born in Fire years are often described as inspiring company and natural motivators. The caution most readings attach is a short fuse and a difficulty with slow seasons, when steady effort matters more than spark and the reward is a long way off.

1996 in the animal cycle and in numerology

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 1996 add up to 25, which reduces to 7. The Rat holds the first place among the twelve animals and its fixed element is Water. Set beside the year's Fire stem, water controls Fire, which readings use to describe how settled or stretched the combination feels. The year before was the Wood Pig and the year after is the Fire Ox.

Chinese almanacs name 1996 Bing-Zi, pairing the Fire stem Bing with the branch Zi. Both are Yang, as stem and branch always share a polarity, so of the hundred and twenty possible pairings only sixty ever occur, and each one names a single year in every cycle.