2017 Chinese zodiac sign: Fire Rooster

Chinese year 2017 begins on Saturday, January 28, 2017, and ends on Thursday, February 15, 2018, the day before the Year of the Earth Dog begins. It has a full 384 days, because it is a leap year with 13 lunar months; the next one comes in 2020. 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 Friday, January 27, 2017 at 7:07 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already January 28, 8:07 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on January 28.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Saturday, February 11, 2017. The year's first full moon falls on Friday, February 10, 2017 at 7:33 p.m. ET. The penumbral lunar eclipse takes place at this same full moon.

It is year 34 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 丁酉 (dīngyǒu): the heavenly stem 丁 gives the element and the earthly branch 酉 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 2017 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 3, 2017 at 10:34 a.m. Eastern Time. That is 6 days after Chinese New Year, so anyone born between January 28 and that moment already has the Fire Rooster sign in the lunar calendar but still the Fire Monkey 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.

Passion, courage and a need for action. Fire adds temperament and charisma, along with a tendency to flare up.

The Fire element covers two years in a row, 2016 (yang) and 2017 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 2006–2007, next in 2026–2027.

The Fire Rooster is a born leader. Fire adds charisma, ambition and drive, and organization is in its blood, so things run smoothly under its hand. It is hardworking and bold. But it can dominate, flare up and expect as much from others as from itself, which is to say a great deal.

In 2026, people born in 2017 turn 9 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 2017 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2029, when they turn 12 years old.

The Rooster comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 2017, the Fire Rooster, returns every 60 years: in 1957, 2017 and 2077.