How the Sixty-Year Cycle Is Formed
In this post, I will explain how the Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches combine to create the sixty Stem-Branch pairs. You may have heard that 2026 is the Year of the Red Horse. But where does that name actually come from? The answer goes back to a pairing system that has been used for thousands of years. Byeong (병, 丙) is a Fire Stem — and Fire is traditionally associated with the color red. O (오, 午) is the Branch that corresponds to the Horse. Put them together: Red Horse. This kind of name — one Heavenly Stem paired with one Earthly Branch — is called a Stem-Branch pair . The complete set of sixty such pairs is known as the Sixty-Year Cycle , or Yuksip Gapja (육십갑자, 六十甲子) . 2024 was Gapjin (갑진, 甲辰) . 2025 was Eulsa (을사, 乙巳) . 2026 is Byeongo (병오, 丙午) . Each year has its own name, and those names cycle through sixty positions before starting over. Why Sixty? The Ten Heavenly Stems run in order and repeat: Gap (갑, 甲) → Eul (을, 乙) → Byeong (병, 丙) → Jeong (정, 丁...