CALENDAR FOUNDATIONS
The sixty-year stem-branch cycle
Ten Heavenly Stems pair in order with twelve Earthly Branches to form sixty year names.
Go deeper: the full reference
What it means
Both sequences advance one step each year. They return to their starting pair, Jia-Zi, after sixty combinations. The animal comes from the branch; Yin or Yang and the Five Phase shown here come from the stem.
An example
Jia-Chen (甲辰) is Yang Wood Dragon, while Yi-Si (乙巳) is Yin Wood Snake.
A question to carry with you
What changes when you read a year as two coordinated cycles?
Find your own lunar-year placement
Use your birth date to find the year animal, stem, branch, stem phase and Yin/Yang. This calculator follows Chinese New Year; it does not calculate a full Four Pillars (BaZi) chart.
Connect the ideas
A lunisolar calendar
Chinese calendar months follow lunar phases while the year stays aligned with seasons.
1 min readThe Lunar New Year boundary
This calculator changes the year placement on the first day of the first lunar month.
1 min readAn intercalary lunar month
Some lunar years repeat a month number to keep the calendar in seasonal alignment.
1 min readLunar New Year and Li Chun are different boundaries
Some Four Pillars traditions use the solar term Li Chun for the year pillar.
1 min read