1985 Chinese zodiac sign: Wood Ox

Chinese year 1985 begins on Wednesday, February 20, 1985, and ends on Saturday, February 8, 1986, the day before the Year of the Fire 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 1987.

The year opens with the new moon on Tuesday, February 19, 1985 at 1:43 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already February 20, 2:43 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on February 20.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Wednesday, March 6, 1985. The year's first full moon falls on Wednesday, March 6, 1985 at 9:13 p.m. ET.

It is year 2 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 乙丑 (yǐchǒu): the heavenly stem 乙 gives the element and the earthly branch 丑 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1985 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 Sunday, February 3, 1985 at 4:12 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 17 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 19 still has the Wood Rat sign in the lunar calendar but already the Wood Ox sign in Ba Zi.

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.

Growth, curiosity and cooperation. Wood brings a gardener's patience: it builds slowly, with an eye on what will grow in the years ahead.

The Wood element covers two years in a row, 1984 (yang) and 1985 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1974–1975, next in 1994–1995.

The Wood Ox is more open than its relatives. Wood gives it a feel for people and a willingness to cooperate, so it hears a new idea out before rejecting it. It stays hardworking and dependable, but it can also change its mind when someone gives it good arguments. On a team it often brings together people who would never get along on their own.

In 2026, people born in 1985 turn 41 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 1985 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2033, when they turn 48 years old.

The Ox comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1985, the Wood Ox, returns every 60 years: in 1925, 1985 and 2045.