2009 Chinese zodiac sign: Earth Ox

Chinese year 2009 begins on Monday, January 26, 2009, and ends on Saturday, February 13, 2010, the day before the Year of the Metal Tiger begins. It has a full 384 days, because it is a leap year with 13 lunar months; the next one comes in 2012. The Chinese calendar adds the extra month roughly every two or three years so that it doesn't drift away from the seasons.

The year opens with the new moon on Monday, January 26, 2009 at 2:56 a.m. ET, which is 3:56 p.m. China Standard Time, so the date is the same in New York and in Beijing. The annular solar eclipse takes place at this same new moon.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Monday, February 9, 2009. The year's first full moon falls on Monday, February 9, 2009 at 9:49 a.m. ET. The penumbral lunar eclipse takes place at this same full moon.

It is year 26 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 己丑 (jǐchǒu): the heavenly stem 己 gives the element and the earthly branch 丑 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 2009 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 Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 11:50 a.m. Eastern Time. That is 8 days after Chinese New Year, so anyone born between January 26 and that moment already has the Earth Ox sign in the lunar calendar but still the Earth Rat 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.

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, 2008 (yang) and 2009 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1998–1999, next in 2018–2019.

Earth is the Ox's fixed element, so the Earth Ox is the Ox squared: patient, practical and highly reliable. Its plans reach years ahead, and what it builds usually lasts. Others trust it with important matters because they know it won't let them down. It only has to make sure caution doesn't turn into resistance to every change.

In 2026, people born in 2009 turn 17 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 2009 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2033, when they turn 24 years old.

The Ox comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 2009, the Earth Ox, returns every 60 years: in 1949, 2009 and 2069.