1939 Chinese zodiac sign: Earth Rabbit

Chinese year 1939 begins on Sunday, February 19, 1939, and ends on Wednesday, February 7, 1940, the day before the Year of the Metal Dragon begins. It has 354 days, or 12 lunar months: each month starts on a new moon, so it is 29 or 30 days long. The next leap year, with a thirteenth month, comes in 1941.

The year opens with the new moon on Sunday, February 19, 1939 at 3:28 a.m. ET, which is 4:28 p.m. China Standard Time, so the date is the same in New York and in Beijing.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Sunday, March 5, 1939. The year's first full moon falls on Sunday, March 5, 1939 at 1:00 p.m. ET.

It is year 16 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 己卯 (jǐmǎo): the heavenly stem 己 gives the element and the earthly branch 卯 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1939 begins not at the lunar New Year but at the moment of lìchūn (立春, “start of spring”), when the Sun reaches 315° of ecliptic longitude: on Saturday, February 4, 1939 at 12:10 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 15 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 18 still has the Earth Tiger sign in the lunar calendar but already the Earth Rabbit sign in Ba Zi.

This page and the calculator give your sign by the lunar calendar.

The Rabbit is the sign of gentleness and finesse. It has good taste, tact and a gift for smoothing over disputes, so it feels best wherever there is harmony.

Stability, common sense and care for the people close to you. Earth steadies every sign and makes it more realistic.

The Earth element covers two years in a row, 1938 (yang) and 1939 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1928–1929, next in 1948–1949.

The Earth Rabbit has both feet on the ground. It is practical, patient and plans well, so it rarely makes rash decisions, and it takes great care of its home and loved ones. It feels best among things and people it knows well. That is exactly why it holds on to what is safe for too long.

In 2026, people born in 1939 turn 87 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Rabbit. People born in 1939 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2035, when they turn 96 years old.

The Rabbit comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1939, the Earth Rabbit, returns every 60 years: in 1879, 1939 and 1999.