Chinese New Year 2027: The Year of the Fire Goat and What It Means for Your Sign

Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday, February 6, 2027. It opens the Year of the Fire Goat, Ding Wei in the 60-year cycle, which runs until January 25, 2028. The Earth Monkey takes over on January 26, 2028. The date comes from the Moon: the new moon that begins the year is exact at 23:56 China time on February 6, just over three minutes before midnight. That same new moon is an annular solar eclipse in Aquarius, so the Lunar New Year and a ring of fire share the same day. Below are the date in every major time zone, how it is calculated, the full list of Goat years, a traditional outlook for all twelve animals and what the Western sky looks like at the festival.

When is Chinese New Year 2027?

Lunar New Year's Day is February 6, 2027. New Year's Eve, the night of the reunion dinner, is Friday, February 5. That is the 29th day of the twelfth month: the last month of the Fire Horse year has only 29 days, so there is no 30th. The Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the first month, closes the season on Saturday, February 20.

The festival is a calendar date, not an instant, and the date is fixed by the Chinese calendar on China Standard Time (UTC+8). Communities in North America, the UK, India and Australia celebrate on the same date. What differs by zone is the moment of the new moon behind it:

The Seoul row is not a typo. Korea's lunar calendar runs on Korean time, one hour ahead of Beijing, and there the new moon lands 56 minutes after midnight. So Seollal, the Korean New Year, falls on Sunday, February 7, 2027, a day after China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam. Korea's official 2027 calendar lists it on February 7, with a holiday from February 6 to 9.

How is the date of Chinese New Year set?

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar. Each month begins on the day of a new moon, counted in China time, and the month that contains the December solstice is always the eleventh month. Chinese New Year is the start of the first month, which in almost every year makes it the second new moon after the December solstice. The rare exception is a year with a leap month squeezed in after the eleventh month; the next one is the winter of 2033 to 2034. That rule keeps the festival between January 21 and February 20, the full range from 1931 to 2100.

Here is the 2027 count, computed in China time:

The margin is tiny. The festival new moon is exact at 11:56 pm in Beijing, about three minutes before midnight. Had it fallen four minutes later, the whole Chinese-speaking world would celebrate on February 7, as Korea does. The calendar printed by the Hong Kong Observatory confirms February 6 as the first day of the first month of the Ding Wei year.

What Chinese zodiac animal is 2027?

2027 is the Year of the Goat, and specifically the Fire Goat. Each year in the Chinese calendar carries a heavenly stem and an earthly branch. 2027 is Ding Wei, number 44 in the 60-year cycle: Ding is the yin fire stem and Wei is the branch of the Goat. The animal returns every 12 years and the element changes in pairs, so the same Fire Goat combination comes round only once every 60 years. The last one was 1967.

The animal is written with a single character, yang, that can mean goat, sheep or ram. Many English sources say Sheep or Ram, and Japanese uses sheep while Vietnamese uses goat. They are all the same sign.

So is 2027 a Monkey year? No. The Monkey arrives with the next new year on January 26, 2028, as the Earth Monkey, Wu Shen. 2026 is the Fire Horse, which ends on February 5, 2027.

Goat years from 1931 to 2027

If you were born in January or February, check the dates rather than the year. Someone born on February 10, 1967 is a Fire Goat, but someone born on February 5, 1967 is still a Fire Horse.

There is a second boundary to know about. Chinese four-pillars astrology, known as Ba Zi, changes the year at Lichun, the start of spring, when the Sun reaches 315 degrees of the ecliptic. In 2027 that is February 4 at 9:46 am China time, two days before the festival. In 2028 it is February 4 at 3:31 pm China time, nine days after the Monkey new year. So a baby born on February 4 or 5, 2027 is a Horse by the lunar calendar but a Goat by Ba Zi, and one born between January 26 and February 3, 2028 is a Monkey by the lunar calendar but still a Goat by Ba Zi. Both schools are traditional. The lunar new year is the one most people use.

Is there a solar eclipse on Chinese New Year 2027?

Yes. The new moon that starts the Fire Goat year is an annular solar eclipse at 17 degrees 38 minutes of Aquarius. Greatest eclipse is at 15:59 UTC on February 6, which is 10:59 am Eastern, 7:59 am Pacific, 3:59 pm in the UK and 9:29 pm in India. In China it is 11:59 pm, the last minute of New Year's Day, with the Sun far below the horizon, so the eclipse cannot be seen from China, and it is not visible from North America either.

The ring of fire crosses southern South America, the South Atlantic and West Africa. The ring lasts 5 minutes 25 seconds at Punta del Este in Uruguay at 12:35 pm local time, and Accra sees it 4 degrees above the horizon at 5:49 pm. Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro see a deep partial eclipse. For the path, the safety rules and the rest of the year's eclipses, read the eclipses 2027 guide.

This is not a one-off. Chinese New Year 2026 on February 17 was also an annular eclipse, and Chinese New Year 2028 on January 26 is another one. Three new years in a row opening on a solar eclipse last happened from 1980 to 1982 and will not happen again until 2045 to 2047. Of the nine Goat years since 1931, only two began on a solar eclipse: 1943 and 2027.

Chinese New Year 2027 outlook for every animal

What follows is tradition, not prediction. Chinese astrology reads each year through the relationship between your birth animal and the animal of the year. The classical groupings are the trines (three animals that support each other), the six harmonies (paired animals), the six clashes (opposite animals) and the six harms. For the Goat year, tradition places the Rabbit and the Pig in the Goat's trine, the Horse as its harmony partner, the Ox as its clash and the Rat as its harm. Everyone else is neutral. A real Chinese reading uses all four pillars of your birth date, so treat the notes below as the folk starting point they are.

• Rat (1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020): the Rat and Goat are traditionally a harm pairing, a combination said to bring small frictions rather than big trouble. The customary advice is patience with colleagues and family and caution with gossip.
• Ox (1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021): the Ox sits directly opposite the Goat, the clash. In folk practice this is the animal most often told to take care in a Goat year, to avoid rushing big moves and to expect plans to need a second attempt.
• Tiger (1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022): neutral with the Goat: no trine, harmony or clash, so tradition gives no special push or pull. Your own year next comes round in 2034.
• Rabbit (1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023): one of the Goat's trine partners and traditionally one of the luckiest animals of 2027. Folk readings favour home, partnership and creative work.
• Dragon (1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024): neutral with the Goat, with no trine, harmony or clash between you. Your own year next comes round in 2036.
• Snake (1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025): neutral with the Goat, a year after your own year of 2025. Tradition marks no special relationship between the two animals.
• Horse (1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026): the Goat's harmony partner. The Horse hands the year over on February 6 and is traditionally well supported by its successor, a common reading for friendship and partnership.
• Goat (1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027): your own year, ben ming nian. Folk belief holds that your own year is an unlucky one, and the best-known remedy is to wear something red, often red socks, underwear or a red string, through the year. It is a protective custom, not a forecast.
• Monkey (1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016): neutral with the Goat. The Monkey's own year begins on January 26, 2028, so 2027 is read as the year to prepare for it.
• Rooster (1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017): neutral with the Goat, with no trine, harmony or clash between you. Your own year next comes round in 2029.
• Dog (1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018): neutral with the Goat, with no trine, harmony or clash between you. Your own year next comes round in 2030.
• Pig (1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019): the third member of the Goat's trine alongside the Rabbit. Tradition counts it among the most fortunate animals of the year.

So which animal is lucky in 2027? By tradition, the Rabbit, the Pig and the Horse, the three animals in a supportive relationship with the Goat. The Ox is the one traditionally asked to tread carefully.

What the Western sky looks like on Chinese New Year 2027

The Chinese and Western systems are separate, but they read the same sky, and the sky at this festival is busy. At the new moon on February 6 at 15:56 UTC:

In Western astrology the festival new moon is a North Node eclipse in Aquarius, read as an opening: something new arrives that you have to grow into. The planets around it argue for patience. Three planets are retrograde or about to be: Mars has been retrograde in Virgo since January 10, Jupiter is retrograde in Leo and Mercury turns retrograde at 5 degrees 59 minutes of Pisces on February 9, three days into the new year. Mercury opposes Mars exactly on February 7 at 07:13 UTC, a sharp-tongued start to the holiday week. Venus squares Neptune on February 5 at 17:38 UTC, the eve of the festival, and trines Mars on February 8. Uranus stands still on its station, which turns direct two days after the festival.

If your Western chart has planets or angles near 17 degrees of Aquarius, Leo, Taurus or Scorpio, this eclipse touches you directly. A free birth chart reading shows whether it does. For the dates of the Mercury retrograde that begins three days in, see Mercury retrograde 2027 dates. The Lantern Festival full moon on February 20 also carries a faint penumbral lunar eclipse, peaking at 23:12 UTC; the full moon calendar 2027 has every full moon of the year.

How is the Chinese zodiac different from the Western zodiac?

They measure different things.

• What sets your sign. Your Western Sun sign is the twelfth of the sky the Sun was crossing on your birthday, so it changes roughly monthly. Your Chinese animal is set by the lunar year you were born in, so everyone born in the same Chinese year shares an animal.
• The cycle behind it. The twelve Western signs follow the Sun around the year. The twelve Chinese animals follow a 12-year cycle that was originally tied to Jupiter, which takes almost 12 years to circle the Sun. Tai Sui, the deity of each year in Chinese folk religion, is linked to the point in the sky directly opposite Jupiter.
• The elements. Western astrology uses four elements: fire, earth, air and water. Chinese astrology uses five: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. In the Chinese system the element of a year comes from its heavenly stem, which is why 2027 is a Fire Goat.
• The full picture. Neither system stops at one sign. Western astrology adds the Moon, the rising sign and every planet. Chinese astrology adds animals for the month, the day and the hour, the four pillars. Someone born on February 6, 2027 is a Fire Goat and an Aquarius Sun, with a Moon in Aquarius too.

If you work with Indian astrology as well, the Vedic vs Western astrology guide explains the third system, which uses the sidereal zodiac.

Are you and your partner a good match?

Chinese New Year is when many people look up their partner's animal. The traditional answer comes from the groupings above: trine animals and harmony pairs are counted as good matches, and the clashing pair as the hardest.

The Western answer is more detailed. In our own study of 60,000 pairs of birth charts, the two Sun signs explained only 24.3 percent of the compatibility score. The rest came from the Moon, Venus, Mars and the angles between them. One animal sign has the same limitation. For the full picture, run both birth charts through the free compatibility tool, then set your Western pair score beside your traditional animal match. Where the two agree, you have a strong signal. Where they disagree, the chart comparison shows you why.

For everything else coming in the year of the Fire Goat, from Mars retrograde to the August total solar eclipse, read the 2027 astrology calendar. For the month that leads into the festival, see the January 2027 astrology calendar.