1979: Year of the Earth Goat
The 1979 Chinese zodiac year is the Yin Earth Goat, and it runs from 28 January 1979 to 15 February 1980 — not from 1 January.
- Animal
- Goat 羊
- Element and polarity
- Yin Earth
- Gan-Zhi
- Ji Wei 己未
- Age this zodiac year
- Born in 1979, a person turns 47 during the 2026 year
Born early in 1979? You may be Horse, not Goat
Chinese New Year 1979 fell on 28 January 1979. Anyone born between 1 January 1979 and 27 January 1979 — a window of 27 days — belongs to the 1978 zodiac year, the Yang Earth Horse, and not to the Goat.
Check an exact birth date against the 28 January 1979 boundary.
Exact 1979 zodiac year dates
The 1979 lunar year carried a leap month, stretching it to 384 days — which is why the following Chinese New Year falls comparatively late.
Other Goat years around 1979
| Goat year | Complete name | Begins |
|---|---|---|
| 1943 | Yin Water Goat | 5 February 1943 |
| 1955 | Yin Wood Goat | 24 January 1955 |
| 1967 | Yin Fire Goat | 9 February 1967 |
| 1991 | Yin Metal Goat | 15 February 1991 |
| 2003 | Yin Water Goat | 1 February 2003 |
| 2015 | Yin Wood Goat | 19 February 2015 |
The exact pairing 己未 — Yin Earth Goat — returns only once every sixty years: 1919, 2039, 2099.