The Chinese lunar calendar and the Gregorian Calendar often sync up every 19 years (Metonic cycle). Most Chinese people notice that their Chinese and Western birthdays often fall on the same day on their 19th, 38th birthday etc. However, a 19-year cycle with a certain set of intercalary months is only an approximation, so an almost identical pattern of intercalary months in subsequent cycles will eventually change after some multiple of 19 years to a quite different 19-year cycle.

The Chinese zodiac (see Nomenclature and Twelve Animals sections) is only used in naming years—it is not used in the actual calculation of the calendar. In fact, the Chinese have a very different constellation system.

The twelve months are closely connected with agriculture, so they are alternatively named after plants:

  1. Primens (first month) 正月: Latin "primus mensis".
  2. Apricomens (apricot month) 杏月: apricot blossoms.
  3. Peacimens (peach month) 桃月: peach blossoms.
  4. Plumens (plum month) 梅月: mei ripens.
  5. Guavamens (guava month) 榴月: pomegranate blossoms.
  6. Lotumens (lotus month) 荷月: lotus blossoms.
  7. Orchimens (orchid month) 蘭月: orchid blossoms.
  8. Osmanthumens (osmanthus month) 桂月: osmanthus blossoms.
  9. Chrysanthemens (chrysanthemum month) 菊月: chrysanthemum blossoms.
 10. Benimens (good month) 良月: good month.
 11. Hiemens (hiemal month) 冬月: hiemal month.
 12. Lamens (last month) 臘月: last month.

The Chinese zodiac

   Main article: Chinese Astrology

The Twelve animals (十二生肖 shí'èr shēngxiào, or colloquially 十二屬相 shí'èr shǔxiàng) representing the twelve Earthly Branches are, in order, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep (or goat), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig (or boar).

A legend explains the sequence in which the animals were assigned. Supposedly, the twelve animals fought over the precedence of the animals in the cycle of years in the calendar, so the Chinese gods held a contest to determine the order. All the animals lined up on the bank of a river and were given the task of getting to the opposite shore. Their order in the calendar would be set by the order in which the animals managed to reach the other side. The cat wondered how he would get across if he was afraid of water. At the same time, the ox wondered how he would cross with his poor eyesight. The calculating rat suggested that he and the cat jump onto the ox's back and guide him across. The ox was steady and hard-working so that he did not notice a commotion on his back. In the meanwhile, the rat sneaked up behind the unsuspecting cat and shoved him into the water. Just as the ox came ashore, the rat jumped off and finished the race first. The lazy pig came to the far shore in twelfth place. And so the rat got the first year named after him, the ox got the second year, and the pig ended up as the last year in the cycle. The cat finished too late to win any place in the calendar, and vowed to be the enemy of the rat forevermore.

[edit] Solar term

   Main article: Solar term

Chinese months follow the phases of the moon. As a result, they do not accurately follow the seasons of the solar year. To assist farmers to decide when to plant or harvest crops, the drafters of the calendar put in 24 seasonal markers, which follow the solar year, and are called jiéqì 節氣.

The term Jiéqì is usually translated as "Solar Terms" (lit. Nodes of Weather). Each node is the instant when the sun reaches one of twenty-four equally spaced points along the ecliptic, including the solstices and equinoxes, positioned at fifteen degree intervals. Because the calculation is solar-based, these jiéqì fall around the same date every year in solar calendars (e.g. the Gregorian Calendar), but do not form any obvious pattern in the Chinese calendar. The dates below are approximate and may vary slightly from year to year due to the intercalary rules (i.e. system of leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. Jiéqì are published each year in farmers' almanacs. Chinese New Year is usually the new moon closest to lìchūn.

In the table below, these measures are given in the standard astronomical convention of ecliptic longitude, zero degrees being positioned at the vernal equinox point. Each calendar month under the heading "M" contains the designated jiéqì called a principal term, which is an entry into a sign of the zodiac, also known as a cusp. Here term has the archaic meaning of a limit, not a duration. In Chinese astronomy, seasons are centered on the solstices and equinoxes, whereas in the standard Western definition, they begin at the solstices and equinoxes. Thus the term Beginning of Spring and the related Spring Festival fall in February, when it is still very chilly in temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.

drrnwynbchnbrgr wrote:
date of birth...  western astrology used 12 month calendar "sun"...... chinese astrology uses 13 month lunar calender  dates of birth in be different in each system  that explains the reason you are seeing different and opposing signs ....   chinese  numerology and western numerology are also very different  western form  uses what is know as a life path number /coming from your date of birth  chinese numerology does not consider this to be of any importance .... and  again just as with astrology the chinese form uses the lunar calendar...


yes I understand the difference... but.... then which is more accurate? which should you rely upon?

If you were a paying customer, what would you choose?

So all in all, what does it say about astrology in general?



Western astrology is the system of astrology most popular in Western countries. Western astrology originated in Mesopotamia during the 2nd millennium BC, from where it spread to much of the world. After spreading to Egypt, where further developments occurred, it then arrived into Greek or Hellenistic culture, where the Greek astronomer and astrologer Ptolemy in his work Tetrabiblos laid the foundations of the Western tradition. Western astrology is largely horoscopic, that is, it is largely based on the construction of a horoscope for an exact moment in time, such as a person's birth, in which various cosmic bodies are said to have an influence. In modern Western sun sign astrology, only the location of the Sun is considered.


In modern Western sun sign astrology, only the location of the Sun is considered.

No .... but I've read your reading on the female rooster ... care to do another on a rabbit?    

drrnwynbchnbrgr  ... can I call you doc?  .... yikes!!!   Thanks doc for all you do... I'm just a newb