1991 Chinese Zodiac: The Year of the Metal Goat

Detail	1991
Animal	Goat (羊)
Element	Metal, yin
Stem and branch	Xin Wei (辛未)
Year starts	February 15, 1991
Year ends	February 3, 1992
Year before	1990, Metal Horse
Year after	1992, Water Monkey

Born in January or February 1991?

The Chinese year does not start on January 1. It starts at Chinese New Year, which follows the Moon and usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, somewhere between January 21 and February 20. In 1991 it fell on February 15 (China time), so the Goat starts with births on that day and everyone born before it in 1991 is still a Metal Horse. If your birthday sits close to the line, the Chinese zodiac calculator checks the exact date for you.

The Goat in Chinese astrology

The Goat is the gentle artist of the zodiac in the tradition, creative, kind and sensitive to atmosphere. Goat people are described as compassionate, imaginative and drawn to comfort and beauty, with a talent for making others feel cared for. They are read as peace-loving, generous with what they have, and happiest in a harmonious setting. Others experience a Goat as soft-spoken and thoughtful, someone who notices when a friend is not quite right.

The classical reading also names the vulnerabilities. A Goat can be indecisive, easily discouraged by pressure, and inclined to worry or to lean on others for direction. Criticism may sting longer than it should, and money or deadlines can feel like intrusions on a more pleasant inner life. If you are a Goat, the old advice is to build a little structure around your creativity, so that its gifts reach the world, and to trust your own judgment a bit sooner. People close to a Goat often describe the sign as a source of kindness that never makes a fuss, with a talent for turning an ordinary room into a welcoming one.

The Metal Goat

In Chinese astrology Metal is the element of clarity, discipline and resolve. Tradition links it to autumn, to the blade and the bell, and reads a Metal year as adding firmness and a taste for precision to the animal it touches. Metal people are described as determined, principled and economical with words. The classical shadow is rigidity: a tendency to hold a position after the situation has changed, and to keep feelings polished and out of view. Metal asks the animal to be exact.

Resolve gives the Metal Goat unusual sturdiness. Where the Goat is usually read as yielding, Metal adds an artist's eye and a firm hand: a caring person who knows what it values and defends it. Taste is refined and standards of beauty are high. It sets boundaries gently and keeps them, and it dislikes being hurried on matters of craft. Friends see warmth first and then, sooner or later, the steel. The shadow is a stiff pride that covers vulnerability, so a hurt may be answered with silence instead of a request for comfort. Its strength persuades most when others can see the tenderness behind it.

The same pairing of element and animal returns every sixty years, so 1931 is Metal Goat years as well. The other metal year next to 1991 is 1990, a Metal Horse, because each element lasts two years, one yang and one yin.

Goat compatibility

Tradition groups the twelve animals into four trines of three. The Goat shares its trine with the Rabbit and the Pig, the pairings read as the easiest. Its secret friend, a second close match, is the Horse, while the Ox, six places away on the wheel, is read as its clash. These are tendencies of the tradition, not verdicts on any couple.

Tender, romantic and devoted, the Goat creates warmth at home and remembers the feelings of the people around them. Goats need reassurance and gentle treatment, and harsh words can leave them withdrawn for a long time. They form deep, loyal friendships with kind people. Dependency and a tendency to avoid hard conversations are the old cautions. A Goat thrives with a patient partner who offers security and honest affection.

The Goat at work

Creative and cooperative, the Goat suits the arts, caring work, design or any role where imagination and kindness count. Goats are credited with generosity and a talent for working in harmony with others, and they dislike pressure, deadlines and rigid hierarchies. With money they can be easygoing, sometimes too relaxed about budgets.

Other Goat years

The Goat comes back every twelve years, each time with the next element: 1931 Metal Goat, 1943 Water Goat, 1955 Wood Goat, 1967 Fire Goat, 1979 Earth Goat, 1991 Metal Goat (this page), 2003 Water Goat, 2015 Wood Goat, 2027 Fire Goat.

Your Western sign

Your Chinese sign comes from your birth year. Western astrology works from the sky on the day you were born instead: your Sun sign follows the date, and your Moon sign and rising sign also need the time and place. Two people born in 1991 share the Goat and can still have any of the twelve Western Sun signs. Draw your free birth chart to see your Sun, Moon and rising sign together, or look up your Sun sign by date with the zodiac sign dates calculator.

All twelve animals, the five elements and every year from 1930 to 2030 are listed in Chinese zodiac years.