Rat (zodiac)

The Rat/Mouse is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.

Years and the Five Elements

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:

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

Attributes

According to Chinese folklore, this sign can be quite complex and people who are born under this Chinese sign possess strong leadership skills and are intelligent, charismatic, artistic, charming, persuasive, attractive, generous to loved ones, and ambitious. On the negative side, rats can be exploitive, dangerous, dreamy, deviant, selfish, cunning, psychotic(rats tend towards mental instability), lustful, stubborn, manipulative, frail, and vain. Rats are said to get along well with "monkeys" and "dragons," and to get along poorly with "horses".

Rats are a symbol of good luck and wealth. They are clever, lustful, and intelligent. This sign is very ambitious and strong-willed, and is motivated by its own interests, which often include money and power. Rats are naturally charming, seductive and persuasive. They are energetic and versatile and can usually find their way around obstacles, and adapt to various environments easily. A rat's natural charm and sharp demeanor make it an appealing friend for almost anyone. The Rat likes to know who is on its side and will treat its most loyal friends with an extra measure of protection and generosity. However, they also have long memories and will rarely forgive or forget an enemy. Rats are strongly family oriented. Although they are often hoarders and can be miserly, they also are very generous to their family and friends. Rats have a great capabilty for accumulating and holding on to items of value.

A valuable lesson for Rats is to learn to consider others below themselves, at least sometimes, and to avoid forcing their ideas onto others. Rats are fair in their dealings and do not expect the same from others in return, and can be deeply affronted if they feel they have been deceived or that their trust has been abused. Sometimes they set their targets too low, whether in relationship to their friends or in their career, but as the years pass they will become more idealistic and tolerant. If they can develop their sense of self and realize it leaves room for others in their life as well, Rats can find true happiness.

In middle age, if everything goes smoothly, Rats will be able to achieve their life goals. Traditionally, Rats should avoid Horses, but they can usually find their best friends and love interests in Monkeys, Oxs, and Dragons.

Ideal jobs for rats include detective, artist, musician, spy, writer, lawyer, broker, politician, psychiatrist, pathologist, and crime laboratory scientist.

Rat Attributes

Zodiac Location	1st
Ruling hours	11pm-1am
Direction	North
Season and month	Winter, December
Gemstone	Garnet
Roughly equivalent western sign	Sagittarius
Polarity	Yang
Countries	Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Brazil, Sweden, Colombia

Celebrities Born in The Year of Rat

• Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, one of the most successful military commanders in world history
• Heinrich Himmler, Top ranking Nazi official, founder and officer-in-charge of the Nazi concentration camps and architect of the "Final Solution"
• Kim II Sung, North Korean dictator
• Peter the Great, Russian emperor and absolutist
• Rudolf Hoess, Senior Nazi official and commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp; responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands people
• Martin Bormann, prominent Nazi official and controlled access to the Nazi dictator
• Karl Hass, Nazi war criminal and mass murderer, condemned for his participation in one of Italy's worst massacres of World War II
• Hans Fritzsche, senior Nazi official, senior official of the Reich Ministry for Propaganda
• Paul Nitsche, German psychiatrist known for his expert endorsement of Nazi Germany's euthanasia authorization and who later headed the T-4 Euthanasia Program
• Carl Schmitt, expert on constitutional law and political philosopher, who affected Nazism with his anti-Semite and antidemocratic theses
• Hans Frank, lawyer for the Nazi party
• Alois Brunner, Nazi war criminal
• Erich Raeder, Nazi naval leader and Admiral
• Otto Steinbrinck, Nazi war criminal
• Idi Amin, military officer and former president of Uganda
• Eva Braun, mistress of Adolf Hitler
• Porphyry, Neoplatonic philosopher
• Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist, social reformer, pacifist, Christian anarchist, and vegetarian
• Catherine I, Russian empress and absolutist
• Tomás de Torquemada, fifteenth century Spanish Dominican, and an Inquisitor General and often regarded as the most evil man in history
• King Mongkut, King of Thailand, regarded as one of the most remarkable kings of the Chakri Dynasty
• Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, Columbian military dictator
• Lawrence of Arabia, British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt, writer, and academic
• Nikolai Bukharin, Bolshevik revolutionary and intellectual, and later a Soviet politician
• Alexander I, Yugoslavian king and dictator
• Mozart, Austrian composer
• Moussa Traoré, soldier then later Mali dictator
• Ruhollah Khomeini, supreme leader, the paramount figure in the political system of the new Islamic Republic, and retained this position until his death
• Humberto Castelo Branco, Brazilian military dictator and leader
• Ngo Dinh Diem, Vietnemese dictator/autocrat
• Wolfgang Pauli, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• Mata Hari, Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan, and spy
• George Washington, first president of the United States
• Richard Nixon, former Vice President and President of the United States
• Prince Harry, Prince
• Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States
• George H. W. Bush, father of President George W. Bush, former Vice President and President of the United States
• Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States
• Ben Burtt, Sound Effects Designer and Sound Effects Editor of Lucasfilm
• Ayrton Senna, Multiple Formula One World Champion
• Paul Popenoe, American agricultural explorer, eugenicist, influential advocate of the compulsory sterilization of the mentally ill and the mentally disabled
• Antonio Banderas, actor
• Ashley Simpson, American singer
• Scarlett Johansson, American actress
• Claude Monet, French Painter
• Karl Urban, actor
• Peter Hammill, musician
• Stevie Nicks, singer in Fleetwood Mac
• David Gallagher, actor
• Cameron Diaz, American actress
• Hugh Grant, actor
• Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady of the United States
• Kevin Zegers, actor
• Pat Nixon, former First Lady of the United States
• Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, current Chairman of the DNC
• Zinedine Zidane, soccer player, played on the French national team
• Diego Maradona, Football(soccer) player, Football World Cup Champion
• Mandy Moore, singer/actress
• Marlon Brando, actor, Academy Award Winner
• Samuel L. Jackson, actor
• Rebecca Romijn, supermodel
• Giancarlo Fisichella, Formula 1 driver
• Prince Charles, British prince
• Gwyneth Paltrow, actress
• LeBron James, American basketball player
• Sasha Cohen, figure skater
• Eminem, rapper
• The Rock, American professional wrestler and actor
• The Notorious B.I.G., American musician (d. 1997)
• J-Hood, rapper
• Krista Allen, American actress
• Kinzie Kenner, American pornographic actress
• Melissa Lauren, pornographic actress
• Amelia Vega, Miss Universe 2003, from the Dominican Republic
• Holly Dunaway, boxer
• Santino Quaranta, American soccer player

Reference

• Adapted from Chinese Horoscope Rat, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License

External links

• Are you a Rat/Mouse?
• Rat Compatibility
• Rat Personality and Related Rat Links