Began January 29, 2006 · 385 days long
2006: year of the Fire Dog
The Dog year started on January 29, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 2006 before that date is a Rooster.
- Opening new moon
- Jan 29, 2006 2:15 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 10:15 PM Sun, Jan 29 · sets the date
- Year of the Dog
- 385 days 13 lunar months, one of them leap
- It ends
- Feb 17, 2007 4:14 PM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 2006: the new moon in your city
The Fire Dog year opened with the new moon at 2:15 PM UTC on January 29, 2006 — 10:15 PM on January 29 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 9:15 AM on January 29 in New York, 2:15 PM on January 29 in London and 1:15 AM on January 30 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Sun, Jan 29, 2006 |
| Honolulu United States | 4:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 5:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 6:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 7:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 7:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 8:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 8:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 9:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 9:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 9:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 9:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 10:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 11:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 11:15 AM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 12:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC−2 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 2:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 2:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 3:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 3:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 3:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 4:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 4:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 4:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 4:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 5:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 5:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 5:45 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 6:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 7:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 7:45 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 8:00 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 8:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 9:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 9:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 10:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 10:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 10:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 10:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 11:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 11:15 PM Sun, Jan 29, 2006 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 12:45 AM Mon, Jan 30, 2006 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 12:15 AM Mon, Jan 30, 2006 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 1:15 AM Mon, Jan 30, 2006 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 3:15 AM Mon, Jan 30, 2006 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 2006 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 Dog personality
Anyone born from January 29, 2006 through February 17, 2007 is a Fire Dog: the yang fire stem 丙 over the 戌 branch.
Fire feeds the Dog's own Earth in the five-element cycle, so this Dog is the best supported of the five. Fire brings intensity, visibility and speed — traditionally the most driven version, and the quickest to burn through its own energy.
Stem and branch
2006 is 丙戌 (Bǐngxū)
Na yin — the sounding element
Earth on the Roof 屋上土
Earth or tiles forming a roof. The image is shelter and the home: stability that serves a household, and usefulness that depends on being placed where it is needed.
2006 therefore carries fire from its stem and earth from its na yin. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
A double spring year
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 4, 2006 and February 4, 2007, Beijing time. The Dog year spans January 29, 2006 to February 17, 2007, so both dates sit inside it: a double spring year (双春). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 2006 Dog
The 戌 branch puts a 2006 Dog opposite the Dragon on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Dragon year after it was 2012. Its harmony partner is the Rabbit, whose year came round 5 years later, in 2011. How the Dog and Dragon get on →
Dogs born in 2006 turn 20 in 2026 — 21 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 2006
- Born January 1 – January 28, 2006: a Wood Rooster, the animal of 2005.
- Born January 29, 2006 or later in the year: a Fire Dog.
A year-only calculator mislabels 28 days of 2006, everything from January 1 to January 28. Those dates hold 7.4% of US births (SSA, 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Dog across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Dog.
The lunar calendar of 2006
Why 385 days, and not 365
2006 repeated its seventh month: the leap month 闰七月 ran from August 24 to September 21 and stretched the year to 385 days. Eight of the 13 months had 30 days.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 2006 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Sun, Feb 12, 2006 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Wed, May 31, 2006 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Mon, Jul 31, 2006 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Tue, Aug 8, 2006 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Fri, Oct 6, 2006 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Mon, Oct 30, 2006 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Fri, Dec 22, 2006 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Fri, Jan 26, 2007 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 12:44 PM on February 13, the day after the Lantern Festival. The festival night of October 6 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 11:12 AM Beijing time on October 7 — lunar day 16.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 2006
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 28 of the 110 new years in the table fall earlier in the calendar than January 29. Three other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1994 began on February 10; twelve years later, 2018 began on February 16 — both marked in lavender with the other Dog years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 2006: Zodiac Year of the Fire Dog.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2006/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 2006: Zodiac Year of the Fire Dog |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2006/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}