Two calendars
Your sun sign and your animal, from one birth date
One date, two labels. The sun sign follows where the Sun stood on the ecliptic; the animal follows which year pillar that date fell in. Both are read from the same twelve points of solar longitude, and neither label converts into the other.
Date only. The sun sign needs the day; the year pillar needs the year.
Why your sun sign cannot name your animal
A sign cuts one year into twelve equal 30° arcs and gives everyone inside an arc the same label. An animal cuts years, not months, and it changes at Lichun — a moment in early February, not on 1 January. The two axes run at right angles: a Scorpio born in 1988 is an Earth Dragon, and the same Scorpio born in 1995 is a Wood Pig. No table maps one to the other, because the information is not there.
- A sign is a position in the solar year. An animal is a position in the sexagenary cycle.
- Both use the same twelve 30° marks of solar longitude, so the boundaries coincide exactly.
- Neither reading needs the other. A chart is four pillars, and the animal is only the first of them.
The twelve marks, and who else uses them
Every sign begins at a multiple of 30° of solar longitude. So does every zhōngqì — the twelve terms that sit at the middle of each Chinese month. The two systems divided the same circle at the same twelve points.
| Sign | Longitude | Chinese term | Usually begins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | 0° | Spring equinox | 03-20 |
| Taurus | 30° | Grain rain | 04-20 |
| Gemini | 60° | Grain buds | 05-21 |
| Cancer | 90° | Summer solstice | 06-21 |
| Leo | 120° | Major heat | 07-23 |
| Virgo | 150° | End of heat | 08-23 |
| Libra | 180° | Autumn equinox | 09-23 |
| Scorpio | 210° | Frost descent | 10-23 |
| Sagittarius | 240° | Minor snow | 11-22 |
| Capricorn | 270° | Winter solstice | 12-22 |
| Aquarius | 300° | Major cold | 01-20 |
| Pisces | 330° | Rain water | 02-19 |
Each date shifts by about a day either side, because the Sun’s apparent motion is not uniform. That movement is what this page computes rather than assumes.
Read either calendar in full
Each animal has its own page, and the boundary between years has a table running back to 1900.
Questions
Can I work out my animal from my sun sign?
No. A sign spans about 30 days; an animal spans a year and changes in early February. One Scorpio can be a Dragon and another a Pig, so the sign carries no information about the year.
Why does January differ from Lunar New Year?
The year pillar turns at Lichun in early February, while Lunar New Year falls between 21 January and 20 February. A January birth is almost always the previous year’s animal here, and may show as the new animal on sites that switch at Lunar New Year.
Does this page read planets?
No. It reads the Sun’s ecliptic longitude and the sexagenary year pillar. Moon signs, rising signs and house placements need a planetary ephemeris, which this site does not offer.
Two calendars, described. This page does not score one against the other, and it does not say which system is right.