1973 Chinese zodiac sign: Water Ox

Chinese year 1973 begins on Saturday, February 3, 1973, and ends on Tuesday, January 22, 1974, the day before the Year of the Wood Tiger 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 Saturday, February 3, 1973 at 4:23 a.m. ET, which is 5:23 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 Saturday, February 17, 1973. The year's first full moon falls on Saturday, February 17, 1973 at 5:07 a.m. ET.

It is year 50 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 癸丑 (guǐchǒu): the heavenly stem 癸 gives the element and the earthly branch 丑 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1973 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 3, 1973 at 6:04 p.m. Eastern Time. That is the same day Chinese New Year begins, so both calendars change sign on February 3.

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

The Ox, called the Buffalo in some sources, is the sign of perseverance. It works patiently, keeps its word and doesn't quit halfway, even when everyone else gave up long ago.

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 makes the Ox calmer and more flexible. The Water Ox listens better, gets along with people more easily and judges its own abilities realistically, so it rarely takes on more than it can carry. It works patiently and methodically. Sometimes it weighs a decision so long that the opportunity passes it by.

In 2026, people born in 1973 turn 53 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Ox. People born in 1973 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2033, when they turn 60 years old.

The Ox comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1973, the Water Ox, returns every 60 years: in 1913, 1973 and 2033.