The Rooster is the animal of rigor: attention to detail, candor, pride, and a taste for careful work.
The animal that announces the morning: it likes everything in its place and every word owned.
A sense of detail and duty: the Rooster plans, checks, speaks plainly, and sees through what it undertakes.
Perfectionism and quick criticism can hurt, and make it harsh on itself as well as on others.
By Thomas Guilhot · updated
| Year | Starts | Element | Polarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969己酉 | February 17, 1969 | Earth | Yin |
| 1981辛酉 | February 5, 1981 | Metal | Yin |
| 1993癸酉 | January 23, 1993 | Water | Yin |
| 2005乙酉 | February 9, 2005 | Wood | Yin |
| 2017丁酉 | January 28, 2017 | Fire | Yin |
| 2029己酉 | February 13, 2029 | Earth | Yin |
| 2041辛酉 | February 1, 2041 | Metal | Yin |
The Rooster is an animal of presence.
It likes to stand tall, keep a tidy calendar, do careful work, and dress with care. Hardworking, frank, sometimes pompous, it says what it thinks plainly and expects equal commitment from those close to it. Its downside: an eye that first spots what is missing, a touchy pride, and a taste for being right. When it admits others’ whimsy, it becomes a dependable companion, funny and generous with its time. It rises early, loves lists, and checks twice. Frank, sometimes to the point of clumsiness, it says what is wrong because it believes it can be fixed. Its pride is real: it appreciates recognition, good form, the well-done gesture, and can be offended when its work goes unnoticed. In a group, it readily plays the role of the one who reminds everyone of the rules, the schedule, the procedure. It has a taste for spectacle, staging, fine clothes. Its challenge: easing the pressure on itself and others, tolerating an imperfect result, and seeing that kindness often builds more than correction.
The Rooster loves with seriousness, care, and pride.
It prepares surprises, remembers dates, and values the given word. It may criticize out of a wish to do well, which the other receives as a reproach. A frank compliment, slipped in unannounced, rebalances the scales and reminds it that affection is not earned by lists. It shows its affection by organizing, preparing, making sure nothing is missing.
Organized and rigorous, it succeeds in roles that call for precision and reliability: management, auditing, teaching, careful upkeep, representation.
It likes to be recognized for the quality of its work. It does well to delegate while accepting methods different from its own. Its attention to detail reassures clients and colleagues, who know that a file that has passed through its hands has been checked.
For the Rooster, everything happens in order: schedules kept, clothes cared for, storage thought through.
This discipline gives those around it landmarks. It relaxes better with planned pleasures, a dinner, an outing, than with improvisation. Planning an evening with no agenda now and then teaches it the art of tranquility. A tidy home, a clear schedule, a neat outfit: these landmarks give it assurance.
The element changes from one twelve-year cycle to the next: the same animal year comes back with a different element, and the same pairing returns every sixty years.
1945, 2005, 2065
The Wood Rooster is said to be more creative and more generous: its rigor comes with fresh ideas and a real pleasure in sharing.
The Wood element →1957, 2017, 2077
The Fire Rooster is said to be more flamboyant and more decisive: it likes to shine, defend its opinions, and readily draws attention.
The Fire element →1909, 1969, 2029, 2089
Mixed with Earth, the Rooster is said to calm down and become steady: patience and method go hand in hand, and its regularity inspires trust.
The Earth element →1933, 1993, 2053
The Water Rooster is said to soften its candor with more listening: it communicates with finesse, with flexibility and intuition.
The Water element →Triangle, opposition, secret friend, harm: relationships handed down by tradition, described without a score.
Four years apart: the same affinities, according to tradition.
Six years apart: face to face on the circle.
A pair known as “secret friends” (liuhe).
A pair known as “harm” (liuhai), one that needs adjusting.
The rooster announces the dawn, which earns it, in Chinese tradition, the title of animal of punctuality and vigilance.
It is credited with the power to drive off the evil spirits of the night. In the legendary race, it is said to have arrived tenth, after crossing the river on a raft with the Monkey and the Goat. These traits belong to folklore; their forms change by province. In Chinese villages, its crow marked the start of the day and, it was believed, drove off nocturnal spirits. Its image also evokes vigilance and luck at the threshold of the year. Customs vary greatly from one province to another, and the explanations given for them belong to folklore.
Each year of the Rooster begins at Chinese New Year, between January 21 and February 20: a birth in January or early February often belongs to the previous animal.
Before the year’s Chinese New Year, the animal is still that of the previous year: the Monkey. Example: February 12, 2029, the eve of the 2029 New Year, still belongs to the Monkey.
Check with my date →All the years in the table: 1909, 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029, 2041, 2053, 2065, 2077, 2089, 2101.
Tenth in the cycle, the Rooster comes around every twelve years. The corresponding years appear in the tool on the page, each with the date its Chinese year begins: it is on that date, not on January 1, that one becomes a Rooster.
Not always. The Chinese Rooster year starts at its New Year, a date that moves from one year to the next, and an earlier birth belongs to the animal before. The tool compares your date to that day and warns you if the gap is under twenty-four hours.
It is described as rigorous, hardworking, frank, and proud, with a taste for detail and staging. It is faulted for criticism and demandingness. This symbolic image offers words for placing oneself, without ever telling someone what they truly are.
The Rooster forms a trine of affinity with the Ox and the Snake, and a secret harmony with the Dragon. It is in opposition to the Rabbit and in harm with the Dog. These terms come from tradition, which never claimed to settle a relationship: the compatibility page explains them.