Began February 19, 1996 · 354 days long
1996: year of the Fire Rat
The Rat year started on February 19, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1996 before that date is a Pig.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 18, 1996 11:30 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 7:30 AM Mon, Feb 19 · sets the date
- Year of the Rat
- 354 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Feb 7, 1997 3:06 PM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1996: the new moon in your city
The Fire Rat year opened with the new moon at 11:30 PM UTC on February 18, 1996 — 7:30 AM on February 19 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 6:30 PM on February 18 in New York, 11:30 PM on February 18 in London and 10:30 AM on February 19 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Sun, Feb 18, 1996 |
| Honolulu United States | 1:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 2:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 3:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 4:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 4:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 5:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 5:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 6:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 6:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 6:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 6:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 7:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 8:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 8:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 8:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 11:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 11:30 PM Sun, Feb 18, 1996 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 12:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 12:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 12:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 1:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 1:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 1:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 1:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 2:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 2:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 3:00 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 3:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 4:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 5:00 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 5:15 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 5:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 6:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 6:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 7:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 7:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 7:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 7:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 8:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 8:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 10:00 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 9:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 10:30 AM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 12:30 PM Mon, Feb 19, 1996 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1996 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 Fire Rat personality
Anyone born from February 19, 1996 through February 6, 1997 is a Fire Rat: the yang fire stem 丙 over the 子 branch.
The Rat's own Water controls Fire here, so the sign keeps the upper hand over the year's element. Fire brings intensity, visibility and speed — traditionally the most driven version, and the quickest to burn through its own energy.
Stem and branch
1996 is 丙子 (Bǐngzǐ)
Na yin — the sounding element
Water in the Ravine 澗下水
Clear water running at the bottom of a gully. The image is purity and persistence in a narrow course — quiet, clean energy that finds its way through difficult ground.
1996 therefore carries fire from its stem and water from its na yin. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
An ordinary single-spring year
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 4, 1996 and February 4, 1997, Beijing time. The Rat year spans February 19, 1996 to February 6, 1997, so exactly one of them sits inside it. What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1996 Rat
The 子 branch puts a 1996 Rat opposite the Horse on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Horse year after it was 2002. Its harmony partner is the Ox, whose year followed straight after, in 1997. How the Rat and Horse get on →
Rats born in 1996 turn 30 in 2026 — 31 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1996
- Born January 1 – February 18, 1996: a Wood Pig, the animal of 1995.
- Born February 19, 1996 or later in the year: a Fire Rat.
This is one of the late new years: 49 days, from New Year's Day to February 18, still belong to the Pig. That is about one US birth in 8 (13.0%, SSA records 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Rat across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Rat.
The lunar calendar of 1996
Why 354 days, and not 365
No leap month this time: from February 19, 1996 to February 6, 1997, 1996 ran twelve months, six of 30 days and six of 29 — 354 days.
The 30-day months were the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th.
Festival dates in the 1996 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Mon, Mar 4, 1996 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Thu, Jun 20, 1996 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Tue, Aug 20, 1996 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Wed, Aug 28, 1996 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Fri, Sep 27, 1996 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Sun, Oct 20, 1996 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Sat, Dec 21, 1996 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Thu, Jan 16, 1997 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 5:22 PM on March 5, the day after the Lantern Festival. This time the calendar and the sky agreed: the Moon was exactly full on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, at 10:50 AM Beijing time on September 27.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 1996
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.
Only one of the 110 new years in the table fall later in the calendar than February 19. Two other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1984 began on February 2; twelve years later, 2008 began on February 7 — both marked in lavender with the other Rat years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1996: Zodiac Year of the Fire Rat.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1996/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1996: Zodiac Year of the Fire Rat |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1996/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}