Season Summer Energy Yin | Element Earth | |
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Closest western zodiac Cancer (Jul 7 – Jul 22), Leo (Jul 23 – Aug 6) Upcoming year 6 February 2027 – 25 January 2028 Year 1979, 1931, 2003, 1967, 1943, 2027, 1955, 2015, 1991, 2039 Eminent personalities Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, Thomas Edison, Michelangelo | ||
The Goat (Chinese: 羊; pinyin: yáng) is the eighth sign of the 12-year cycle of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The sign is also referred to as the Ram or Sheep sign, since the Chinese word yáng is more accurately translated as Caprinae, a taxonomic subfamily which includes both sheep and goats.
Contents
The Year of the Goat (alternatively, Year of the Ram or Year of the Sheep) is associated with the 8th Earthly Branch symbol, 未 (wèi).
Goat or Sheep
The Chinese word yáng refers both to goats and sheep, with shānyáng specifically goats and miányáng sheep. In English, the sign (originally based on a horned animal) may be called either. The interpretation of sheep or goat depends on culture. In Vietnamese, the sign is mùi, which is unambiguously goat. In Japan, on the other hand, the sign is hitsuji, sheep; while in Korea and Mongolia the sign is also sheep or ram. Within China, there may be a regional distinction with the zodiacal yáng more likely to be thought of as a goat in the south, while tending to be thought of as a sheep in the north.
Characteristics
The Chinese commonly regard sheep as an auspicious animal, and the Year of the sheep, therefore, heralds a year of promise and prosperity. "Yáng" (羊) is a component of another written Chinese character "xiang" (祥), which means auspiciousness, and the two were interchangeable in ancient Chinese, according to one source. It is also a part of the character "shan" (善), which counts kindness and benevolence as among its meanings.
Individuals born in this zodiac year have been supposed to share certain characteristics with other individuals also born in years of the same animal sign. Similarly, years sharing the same animal sign have been supposed to share certain characteristics, repeating over their 12/60 year cycle. The shared characteristics in this case are traits attributed to goats.
Due to the luni-solar nature of the traditional Chinese calendar system, the "zodiacal" year does not align with the Western calendar: new years are determined by a system which results in each new year beginning on a new moon sometime between late January to mid-to-late February. Goat aspects can also enter by other chronomantic factors or measures, such as hourly.
In Chinese astrology Goats are described as peace-loving and "kind" and "popular". With the addition of the wood element, the Goat characteristic is thought to love peace and to be helpful and trusting, but yet also to be "clinging" and of a nature resistant to change.
Years and the Five Elements
People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "Year of the Goat", while also bearing the following elemental sign: