1957 Year of the Chinese Zodiac: Fire Rooster Dates

Quick Answer: The 1957 year of the Chinese zodiac is the Fire Rooster, or Ding-You (丁酉). By the Lunar New Year convention, it began on January 31, 1957 and ended on February 17, 1958, inclusive. A birth on January 30, 1957 still falls in the Fire Monkey year. A birth on February 18, 1958 falls in the next year, the Earth Dog.

The first and last day of the Fire Rooster year

In the Hong Kong Observatory's 1957 calendar, look across the January row to the column for January 31. That is where the first lunar month begins. The preceding day, January 30, is still the thirtieth day of the previous twelfth lunar month. This is why an entry that assigns a Rooster to every birthday in Gregorian 1957 gives the wrong result for the first thirty days of January.

The 1958 calendar supplies the end date. February 17 is still in the twelfth lunar month. The next day opens the first lunar month of Wu-Xu, the Dog year. That makes February 17 the last Fire Rooster date, not the first Dog date. The two tables answer different parts of the same question: one opens the interval and the other closes it.

Quick Reference

Birthday	Zodiac year
Jan 1 to 30, 1957	Fire Monkey
Jan 31, 1957 to Feb 17, 1958	Fire Rooster
Feb 18, 1958	Earth Dog

Quick Facts

Year profile: Fire Rooster (Ding-You, 丁酉)
Start date: January 31, 1957
End date: February 17, 1958, inclusive
Boundary convention: Lunar New Year, not January 1 or the Start of Spring.

A red ceramic rooster with a red lantern behind it. — A glazed rooster illustrates the Fire Rooster name; the calendar supplies the dates.

How to check a birthday near either boundary

Suppose two relatives were born on January 30 and January 31, 1957. Both birthdays belong to the same Gregorian month and year, but they fall on opposite sides of Lunar New Year. January 30 belongs with the 1956 Fire Monkey dates; January 31 is already Fire Rooster. You don't have to wait until February for the animal to change.

The same check works in reverse for an early 1958 birthday. Someone born on February 10 is still a Fire Rooster by this method, because February 10 comes before the next Lunar New Year on February 18. If you are helping someone with a family record, check whether the date was originally written in a Gregorian or lunar format before entering it in a Chinese zodiac calculator. The eleventh day of the first lunar month is not the same kind of date as February 11.

The Hong Kong Observatory tables also list a solar term called Spring Commences on February 4 in both years. It is separate from the opening of the first lunar month. A lookup based on that solar term and a lookup based on Lunar New Year may disagree around these dates; check which boundary a tool states before treating a difference as an error.

A cream monkey and a red rooster figurine separated by a wooden strip. — The monkey and rooster represent the change on January 31, 1957, under the Lunar New Year method.

Why Ding-You means Fire Rooster

The two parts of the name carry different information. The Hong Kong Observatory's stem and branch table places Ding-You between Bing-Shen and Wu-Xu in the 60-pair cycle. The 1957 calendar labels Ding-You the year of the Rooster. The Harvard University Asia Center appendix, Table 5, lists Ding among the stems associated with Fire. That is the basis of the label Fire Rooster, not the color of a figurine or the season of a birthday.

The neighboring years are useful cross-checks. Bing and Ding are both listed under Fire, so the change from Bing-Shen to Ding-You changes the animal while the element label stays the same. Wu is listed under Earth, so both labels change when the following Wu-Xu year begins. A twelve-year return of the Rooster branch is not the same as a return of the complete Ding-You pair, which belongs to the sixty-year cycle.

A clay rooster beside a bowl of red glaze and two brushes. — The clay shape represents the animal; the red glaze is an artistic association, not the basis for the Fire classification.

What this label tells you

Fire Rooster identifies one position in a cultural calendar cycle. It can explain why two people born in 1957 might be listed under different animals or why the same Rooster animal can appear with another element in a different cycle. The sources here establish the date and naming conventions; they do not establish what someone's personality, prospects, or relationships will be.

Questions about the 1957 boundary

What is the Chinese zodiac sign for January 15, 1957?

Fire Monkey by the Lunar New Year convention. January 15 falls before the Fire Rooster year began on January 31.

What is the Chinese zodiac sign for February 17, 1958?

Fire Rooster. February 17 is the final day of the old lunar year; Earth Dog starts on February 18.

Is 1957 an Earth Rooster year?

No. Its stem is Ding, which is associated with Fire. The Rooster belongs to the You branch, which does not by itself specify the year's element.

Why does a chart show a different result for February 1958?

Check the boundary rule. The calendar lists Spring Commences on February 4, while Lunar New Year began on February 18. This page uses the latter to assign the year sign.