What does Year of the Dog mean to People Who Are Not Chinese…

What does it mean?

Chinese zodiac or shengxiao (/shnng-sshyaoww/ ‘born resembling’), is a repeating cycle of 12 years. Each year is represented by an animal and its reputed attributes. The Chinese Zodiac sign is derived from the person’s birth year, according to the Chinese lunar calendar

Each zodiac sign is associated with one of the five elements: Gold (Metal), Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. It is a 60 year cycle.  Since this is the Year of the Dog, let us take this year as an example.

Similarly we have these 5 elements available for each of the 12 signs.

Chinese Zodiac years have two different start dates. However, most use lunar New Year as the start of the zodiac year. But for fortune telling and astrology, people believe ‘Start of Spring’ is the beginning of the zodiac year.

What Can We Expect from the Year of The Dog

The Year of the Dog begins on February 16th, 2018 and ends February 4th, 2019, hence babies born during this time will have Dog as their Chinese zodiac sign. It is said that people born under this sign are usually are easy going, kind, friendly and loyal just as a dog.

Personality:

People born under this sign are expected to be loyal, honest, kind and cautious. They are not great at communicating their thoughts, which gives an impression of the people being stubborn. Usually, people born under this sign are happy people and have an overall good health.

Best Match – Rabbit

Worst Match – Dragon, Goat, Rooster

Lucky numbers – 3, 4, 9

Lucky Colors – Red, Green, and Purple

Dogs in Chinese Mythology

Dogs hold an important position in Chinese mythology since the beginning of time. Historical accounts and anecdotes about dogs from ancient China exist in extant literary works, for example in the Shiji, by Sima Qian. Other stories include of a dog named Panhu, who helped the Chinese Sovereign Di Ku win by killing the enemy General and bringing him his head. Then there is Erlang’s Dog (from the Epic novel Journey To The West) and so on….

This is how the years of each animal has occurred till date (from 1960)

• Rat: 2008, 1996, 1984, 1972, 1960
• Ox: 2009, 1997, 1985, 1973, 1961
• Tiger: 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962
• Rabbit: 2011, 1999, 1987, 1975, 1963
• Dragon: 2012, 2000, 1988, 1976, 1964
• Snake: 2013, 2001, 1989, 1977, 1965
• Horse: 2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966
• Goat: 2015, 2003, 1991, 1979, 1967
• Monkey: 2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968
• Rooster: 2017, 2005, 1993, 1981, 1969
• Dog: 2018, 2006, 1994, 1982, 1970
• Pig: 2019, 2007, 1995, 1983, 1971

Find out about your Chinese Zodiac sign here…