Rat (zodiac)

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"Year of the rat" and "Year of the Mouse" redirect here. For other uses, see Year of the rat (disambiguation).

The Rat (wiktionary:大鼠) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Rat is associated with the earthly branch symbol 子. In some parts of the world, a year associated with this animal 鼠 is referred to as Year of the Mouse because the word may be translated to "rat", "mouse", or more broadly, "rodent".

[edit] Years and the Five Elements

The Rat portrayed in the Zodiac Fountain in Almaty

Persons born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "year of the Rat," while also bearing the following elemental sign:^[1]^[2]

31 January 1900 – 18 February 1901: Metal Rat
10 February 1912 – 5 February 1913: Water Rat
5 February 1924 – 24 January 1925: Wood Rat
24 January 1936 – 10 February 1937: Fire Rat
10 February 1948 – 28 January 1949: Earth Rat
28 January 1960 – 14 February 1961: Metal Rat
15 February 1972 – 2 February 1973: Water Rat
2 February 1984 – 19 February 1985: Wood Rat
18 February 1996 – 6 February 1997: Fire Rat
7 February 2008 – 25 January 2009: Earth Rat
24 January 2020 – 11 February 2021: Metal Rat

[edit] Traditional Rat attributes and associations

Attribute
Zodiac Location	1st
Ruling hours	11pm-1am
Direction	North
Motto	"I Rule"^[3]
Season and month	Winter, December
Fixed element	Water
Stem	Positive
Lunar Month Dates	December 6 – January 6
Gemstone	Garnet
Colours	Black
Roughly equivalent western sign	Sagittarius
Polarity	Yang
Food	Peas, cabbage, pork
Countries ^[4]	Germany, Austria, Sweden, Iceland, Netherlands, Thailand, Brazil, Colombia