Began February 5, 1981 · 354 days long
1981: year of the Metal Rooster
The Rooster year started on February 5, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1981 before that date is a Monkey.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 4, 1981 10:14 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 6:14 AM Thu, Feb 5 · sets the date
- Year of the Rooster
- 354 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Jan 25, 1982 4:56 AM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1981: the new moon in your city
The Metal Rooster year opened with the new moon at 10:14 PM UTC on February 4, 1981 — 6:14 AM on February 5 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 5:14 PM on February 4 in New York, 10:14 PM on February 4 in London and 9:14 AM on February 5 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Wed, Feb 4, 1981 |
| Honolulu United States | 12:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 12:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−10 |
| Los Angeles United States | 2:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 3:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 3:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 4:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 4:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 5:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 5:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 5:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 5:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 6:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 7:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 7:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 7:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 10:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 10:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 11:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 11:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 11:14 PM Wed, Feb 4, 1981 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 12:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 12:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 12:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 1:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+3 |
| Moscow Russia | 1:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 1:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 1:44 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 2:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 3:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 3:44 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 3:44 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+5:30 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 4:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 5:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 5:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 5:44 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+7:30 |
| Beijing China | 6:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 6:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 6:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 7:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 7:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 8:44 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 8:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 9:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 11:14 AM Thu, Feb 5, 1981 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1981 date as in the Hong Kong Observatory calendar. Local times: IANA time zones, to the minute.
18 pages · printable
The 2027 Sky Calendar — free PDF
Every retrograde, eclipse, new and full moon of 2027 to the minute, already converted to your city. A month to a page, ready to print.
Personality
The Metal Rooster personality
Anyone born from February 5, 1981 through January 24, 1982 is a Metal Rooster: the yin metal stem 辛 over the 酉 branch.
Metal is already the Rooster's own element, so here it is doubled and everything typical of the sign runs at full strength. Of the five Roosters this is the most observant, and the least inclined to compromise.
Stem and branch
1981 is 辛酉 (Xīnyǒu)
Na yin — the sounding element
Pomegranate Wood 石榴木
The pomegranate tree, full of seeds. Long a symbol of fertility and abundance — growth that produces many results from one source.
1981 therefore carries metal from its stem and wood from its na yin. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
A "blind" year with no spring
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 4, 1981 and February 4, 1982, Beijing time. The Rooster year spans February 5, 1981 to January 24, 1982, so neither date sits inside it: a blind year (无春年). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1981 Rooster
The 酉 branch puts a 1981 Rooster opposite the Rabbit on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Rabbit year after it was 1987. Its harmony partner is the Dragon, whose year came round 7 years later, in 1988. How the Rooster and Rabbit get on →
Roosters born in 1981 turn 45 in 2026 — 46 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1981
- Born January 1 – February 4, 1981: a Metal Monkey, the animal of 1980.
- Born February 5, 1981 or later in the year: a Metal Rooster.
A year-only calculator mislabels 35 days of 1981, everything from January 1 to February 4. Roughly one US birth in 11 falls on those dates — 9.2% in SSA records for 2000–2014. Check your exact date →
The Rooster across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Rooster.
The lunar calendar of 1981
Why 354 days, and not 365
No leap month this time: from February 5, 1981 to January 24, 1982, 1981 ran twelve months, six of 30 days and six of 29 — 354 days.
The 30-day months were the 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 1981 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Thu, Feb 19, 1981 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Sat, Jun 6, 1981 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Thu, Aug 6, 1981 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Fri, Aug 14, 1981 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Sat, Sep 12, 1981 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Tue, Oct 6, 1981 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Tue, Dec 22, 1981 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Sat, Jan 2, 1982 |
At the Lantern Festival on February 19 the year's first full moon came that same day, at 6:58 AM Beijing time. The true full moon came two days after the Mid-Autumn Festival, at 11:08 AM Beijing time on September 14 — lunar day 17.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 1981
Lengths differ because a leap month is inserted every two or three years. This is what makes the new year date jump rather than drift.
By date, 1981 sits mid-table: of the 110 new years, 52 fall earlier in the calendar and 52 later. Five other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1969 began on February 17; twelve years later, 1993 began on January 23 — both marked in lavender with the other Rooster years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1981: Zodiac Year of the Metal Rooster.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1981/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1981: Zodiac Year of the Metal Rooster |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1981/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}