1969 Chinese zodiac sign: Earth Rooster

Chinese year 1969 begins on Monday, February 17, 1969, and ends on Thursday, February 5, 1970, the day before the Year of the Metal Dog 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 1971.

The year opens with the new moon on Sunday, February 16, 1969 at 11:25 a.m. ET. In Beijing it is already February 17, 12:25 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on February 17.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Monday, March 3, 1969. The year's first full moon falls on Tuesday, March 4, 1969 at 12:17 a.m. ET.

It is year 46 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 己酉 (jǐyǒu): the heavenly stem 己 gives the element and the earthly branch 酉 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1969 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 Monday, February 3, 1969 at 6:59 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 14 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 16 still has the Earth Monkey sign in the lunar calendar but already the Earth Rooster sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Rooster is the sign of hard work and honesty. It is observant, organized and precise, and bold in voicing its opinions.

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, 1968 (yang) and 1969 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1958–1959, next in 1978–1979.

The Earth Rooster combines precision with common sense. Earth adds patience and stability, so it works conscientiously, judges its abilities realistically and rarely promises anything it can't deliver. Few are as trustworthy. It just finds it hard to let go of perfectionism, even where nothing calls for it.

In 2026, people born in 1969 turn 57 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Rooster. People born in 1969 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2029, when they turn 60 years old.

The Rooster comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1969, the Earth Rooster, returns every 60 years: in 1909, 1969 and 2029.