1972 Chinese zodiac sign: Water Rat

Chinese year 1972 begins on Tuesday, February 15, 1972, and ends on Friday, February 2, 1973, the day before the Year of the Water Ox 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 1974.

The year opens with the new moon on Monday, February 14, 1972 at 7:29 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already February 15, 8:29 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on February 15.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Tuesday, February 29, 1972. The year's first full moon falls on Monday, February 28, 1972 at 10:12 p.m. ET.

It is year 49 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 壬子 (rénzǐ): the heavenly stem 壬 gives the element and the earthly branch 子 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1972 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 Friday, February 4, 1972 at 12:19 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 11 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 14 still has the Metal Pig sign in the lunar calendar but already the Water Rat sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Rat opens the twelve-year cycle, and legend says it won the Great Race by cunning: it rode across the river on the Ox's back and jumped off just before the finish line. The sign is known for intelligence, resourcefulness and quick reflexes.

Intuition, flexibility and a gift for persuasion. Water softens a sign and teaches it to go with the flow.

The Water element covers two years in a row, 1972 (yang) and 1973 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1962–1963, next in 1982–1983.

Water is the Rat's fixed element, so the Water Rat shows its traits in their purest form. It reads people brilliantly, speaks well and can win others over without raising its voice, which makes it a born negotiator. It adapts to situations easily, but it also gives in to moods easily and worries about things that haven't happened yet.

In 2026, people born in 1972 turn 54 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as an opposite sign's year for the Rat. People born in 1972 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2032, when they turn 60 years old.

The Rat comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1972, the Water Rat, returns every 60 years: in 1912, 1972 and 2032.