Began January 26, 2009 · 384 days long
2009: year of the Earth Ox
The Ox year started on January 26, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 2009 before that date is a Rat.
- Opening new moon
- Jan 26, 2009 7:55 AM UTC
- In Beijing
- 3:55 PM Mon, Jan 26 · sets the date
- Year of the Ox
- 384 days 13 lunar months, one of them leap
- It ends
- Feb 14, 2010 2:51 AM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 2009: the new moon in your city
The Earth Ox year opened with the new moon at 7:55 AM UTC on January 26, 2009 — 3:55 PM on January 26 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 2:55 AM on January 26 in New York, 7:55 AM on January 26 in London and 6:55 PM on January 26 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Mon, Jan 26, 2009 |
| Honolulu United States | 9:55 PM Sun, Jan 25, 2009 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 10:55 PM Sun, Jan 25, 2009 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 11:55 PM Sun, Jan 25, 2009 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 12:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 12:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 1:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 1:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 2:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 2:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 2:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 2:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 3:25 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−4:30 |
| Santiago Chile | 4:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 5:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−2 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 5:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC−2 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 7:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 7:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 8:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 8:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 8:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 9:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 9:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 9:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 9:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 10:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 10:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 11:25 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 11:55 AM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 12:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 1:25 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 1:40 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 1:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 2:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 2:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 3:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 3:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 3:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 4:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+9 |
| Seoul South Korea | 4:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 4:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 6:25 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 5:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 6:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 8:55 PM Mon, Jan 26, 2009 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 2009 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 Earth Ox personality
Anyone born from January 26, 2009 through February 13, 2010 is an Earth Ox: the yin earth stem 己 over the 丑 branch.
Earth is already the Ox's own element, so here it is doubled and everything typical of the sign runs at full strength. Of the five Oxen this is the most dependable, and the least inclined to compromise.
Stem and branch
2009 is 己丑 (Jǐchǒu)
Na yin — the sounding element
Thunderbolt Fire 霹靂火
Fire from lightning — sudden, powerful and short. Readings give these years bursts of energy and dramatic turns, strong at the moment of impact and harder to sustain.
2009 therefore carries earth from its stem and fire 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, 2009 and February 4, 2010, Beijing time. The Ox year spans January 26, 2009 to February 13, 2010, so both dates sit inside it: a double spring year (双春). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 2009 Ox
The 丑 branch puts a 2009 Ox opposite the Goat on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Goat year after it was 2015. Its harmony partner is the Rat, whose year came round 11 years later, in 2020. How the Ox and Goat get on →
Oxen born in 2009 turn 17 in 2026 — 18 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 2009
- Born January 1 – January 25, 2009: an Earth Rat, the animal of 2008.
- Born January 26, 2009 or later in the year: an Earth Ox.
Only the first 25 days of 2009 belong to the Rat, yet a year-only calculator still calls them Oxen. Those dates hold 6.6% of US births (SSA, 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Ox across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Ox.
The lunar calendar of 2009
Why 384 days, and not 365
2009 repeated its fifth month: the leap month 闰五月 ran from June 23 to July 21 and stretched the year to 384 days. Seven of the 13 months had 30 days.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 2009 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Mon, Feb 9, 2009 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Thu, May 28, 2009 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Wed, Aug 26, 2009 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Thu, Sep 3, 2009 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Sat, Oct 3, 2009 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Mon, Oct 26, 2009 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Tue, Dec 22, 2009 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Fri, Jan 22, 2010 |
At the Lantern Festival on February 9 the year's first full moon came that same day, at 10:49 PM Beijing time. The festival night of October 3 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 2:10 PM Beijing time on October 4 — 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 2009
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 17 of the 110 new years in the table fall earlier in the calendar than January 26. Two other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1997 began on February 7; twelve years later, 2021 began on February 12 — both marked in lavender with the other Ox years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 2009: Zodiac Year of the Earth Ox.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2009/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 2009: Zodiac Year of the Earth Ox |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2009/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}