Year of Biçin
Meaning: monkey
A short history
"Biçin" means monkey in Old Turkic. That an animal not found on the steppe entered the calendar is a reminder that the cycle is a heritage shared with neighbouring cultures.
Cultural background
The name lives on in the Kazakh calendar as "meshin". The monkey is not a steppe animal; the calendar carries it because the order is shared with neighbouring cultures. This year can therefore be read as the cycle's "guest from outside": curiosity, imitation and play.
Symbolic qualities
- curious
- witty
- problem-solving
- flexible
Biçin is the symbol of intelligence that learns through play. It turns a problem upside down and solves it with a laugh. Its shadow side is scattering, moving on before going deep.
Things you might reflect on
- What changes if you look at a problem with a playful eye?
- Do you remember where your curiosity last took you?
- Which interest would you like to take a little deeper?
Years it falls on
Each year begins on 21 March and ends on 20 March of the following year.
1908 · 1920 · 1932 · 1944 · 1956 · 1968 · 1980 · 1992 · 2004 · 2016 · 2028 · 2040 · 2052 · 2064 · 2076 · 2088 · 2100
Chinese counterpart: Monkey →Where does the Turkic 12-animal calendar come from?
In the Divanu Lugati't-Türk, written in the 11th century, Mahmud of Kashgar explains that the Turks counted years by the names of twelve animals and lists them in order. The work also tells a story about the origin of the cycle: of the animals driven into the Ila (Ili) river before a ruler, the names of the twelve that crossed were given to the years.
An older witness is the Orkhon inscriptions (8th century). The Kül Tegin inscription dates his death to the "koń yıl" (year of the sheep, 731) and the Bilge Kagan inscription dates the kagan's death to the "it yıl" (year of the dog, 734). So animal year names were already used to give dates in that period.
The cycle follows the same order as the Chinese calendar and is a heritage shared with neighbouring cultures. Sources reckon the start of the year differently; this page takes Nevruz (21 March) as the start of the year.
- Kaşgarlı Mahmud, Divanu Lugati't-Türk (1072–1077).
- Kül Tegin yazıtı (732) ve Bilge Kağan yazıtı (735), Orhun Vadisi.
- Erkoç, H. İ., Divanü Lugati't-Türk'te Vahşi Hayvanlarla İlgili Kelimeler ve Terimler, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 23 (2015), 177-208.
- Karimova, G. ve Türkmen, F., Kazakistan'da Hayvan Kültü ve 12 Hayvanlı Halk Takvimi (2022).
The twelve animals
For entertainment and self-reflection. Year animals are presented as cultural history and character symbolism; they do not tell you what a year holds.
The images on this page were generated with AI.