Cathay Ink › Chinese zodiac › Year of the Rabbit › 1999
Year of the Rabbit 1999
The Earth Rabbit, 己卯: from Chinese New Year on 16 February 1999 to 4 February 2000.
Gentle, tactful and perceptive. The Rabbit prefers harmony to confrontation and tends to be the one everyone confides in. Earth years favour steadiness: consolidating, caring for what is already there, the harvest of earlier work.
The Earth Rabbit
Element
Earth years are associated with steadiness and care: harvest, soil, the centre. In the sixty-year cycle each animal meets each element once, so the Earth Rabbit came last in 1939 and returns in 2059. The year's 纳音 (the "sound" of its stem and branch in the old almanacs) is 城头土.
Company
The Rabbit shares a trine with the Goat and the Pig; its secret friend is the Dog. Those signs are said to find a Rabbit year easiest. The Jade Rabbit lives on the moon, pounding the elixir of life under the osmanthus tree; look for it at Mid-Autumn.
Years of the Rabbit
Each starts at Chinese New Year.
- 1927Fire Rabbit, from 2 February 1927
- 1939Earth Rabbit, from 19 February 1939
- 1951Metal Rabbit, from 6 February 1951
- 1963Water Rabbit, from 25 January 1963
- 1975Wood Rabbit, from 11 February 1975
- 1987Fire Rabbit, from 29 January 1987
- 1999Earth Rabbit, from 16 February 1999
- 2011Metal Rabbit, from 3 February 2011
- 2023Water Rabbit, from 22 January 2023
- 2035Wood Rabbit, from 8 February 2035
Questions
When does the Year of the Rabbit 1999 start and end?
It starts at Chinese New Year, 16 February 1999, and ends on 4 February 2000, the day before the next new year.
What element is the Rabbit in 1999?
Earth (土), from the heavenly stem 己. Earth years are associated with steadiness and care: harvest, soil, the centre.
Is a baby born in January 1999 a Rabbit?
No. A baby born before 16 February 1999 belongs to the previous animal, the Tiger. The zodiac year follows the lunar calendar, not 1 January.
Which other years were Earth Rabbit years?
1939. The same stem and branch return every sixty years.
Your Rabbit in ink
The Rabbit painted in ink wash above your name and lunar birthday.
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Enter your birthday; we set the animal, the element, the lunar date and your name, and add a Chinese name as a seal if you have one.
Start with my birthdayMore about the animal: Year of the Rabbit. All twelve: the zodiac.