Rooster personality
Tradition sees the Rooster as the zodiac's organizer: observant, hardworking and confident, up early and on time, with an eye for every detail. People born in Rooster years are read as honest and direct, proud of doing things well, and loyal to the people and principles they believe in. The character 鸡 jī sounds like 吉 jí, "lucky", which has long made the Rooster a welcome sign.
The shadow side is perfectionism. Roosters are read as critical of themselves and others, blunt enough to wound, and fond of being noticed. Tradition's advice to the Rooster is to praise as readily as it corrects, and to accept that good enough sometimes is.
The Rooster in love and friendship
A Rooster is read as a dependable, devoted partner who shows love by taking care of practical things, and who expects the same standards in return. Tradition's best matches are the Ox and the Snake, the Rooster's partners in the trio of animals four years apart: the Ox shares its work ethic, and the Snake its ambition and discernment. The Dragon is the Rooster's secret friend, one of the six harmonious pairs, read as the bold partner whose big plans the Rooster loves to organize.
The Rabbit sits opposite the Rooster, six years away, and the pair is read as the classic clash: the Rooster's frankness bruises a sensitive Rabbit. The Dog, one of the six harming pairs, is read as too wary of the Rooster's pride. These readings go by animal alone. Tradition also weighs each person's element, and the grid further down links to every other animal's page.
The Rooster at work
Tradition expects Roosters to do well where precision and order count: accounting and finance, administration, journalism and editing, surgery, the military and any job with standards to keep. They are read as tireless, well-prepared colleagues. Sloppy work around them, and bosses who change the plan without a reason, are what tradition expects a Rooster to find hardest.
When is the next Year of the Rooster?
The next Year of the Rooster begins on February 13, 2029 and runs until February 2, 2030. It will be an Earth Rooster year, 己酉 jǐyǒu, the forty-sixth year of the sixty-year cycle; tradition reads Earth as bearing the Rooster's own Metal, making the Earth Rooster the most practical and diligent Rooster. The last Year of the Rooster was a Fire Rooster year, from January 28, 2017 to February 15, 2018.
For all its dawn crowing, the Rooster's double hour is 5 pm to 7 pm, at dusk; the dawn hours from 5 am to 7 am belong to the Rabbit.
The Rooster in the Great Race
In the best-known story of how the zodiac got its order, the Jade Emperor held a race across a wide river, and the animals took their places in the order they finished. The Rooster, the Goat and the Monkey crossed together: it was the Rooster that found a raft, while the Monkey and the Goat cleared away the weeds and steered. The three reached the bank one after another, and the Rooster took tenth place.
When does the Year of the Rooster begin?
Each Year of the Rooster starts at the Lunar New Year, the new moon that begins the first month of the Chinese calendar, which falls between January 21 and February 20. So Rooster years don't line up with calendar years: someone born on February 10, 1969 is an Earth Monkey, because the Earth Rooster year began a week later, on February 17. The checker at the top of this page and the Chinese zodiac calculator both allow for this, and the table above gives the first and last day of every Rooster year since 1909.
Four Pillars astrology (BaZi) counts the year differently, from Lichun, the start of spring in the solar calendar, around February 4. Its Rooster years begin on that day instead, so for a few days either side of the Lunar New Year the two systems can disagree.