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Chinese New Year 2026
Tuesday, 17 February 2026. It opens the Year of the Fire Horse, 丙午, which runs until 5 February 2027.
- New Year's Eve16 February 2026
- New Year's Day17 February 2026
- Lantern Festival3 March 2026
- Animal and elementFire Horse 火马, Yang
- Year ends5 February 2027; the next new year is 6 February 2027
What the Horse year carries
The Horse
Energetic, independent and straightforward. The Horse loves open space and company in equal measure, and is happiest in motion.
马到成功, "success as soon as the horse arrives", is the wish written on Horse-year greetings.
Fire 火
Fire years are associated with warmth and drive: summer, lanterns, the hearth. Fire years favour energy and visibility: bold moves, warm company, the spotlight.
The pairing of stem and branch, 丙午, returns once every sixty years; the last Fire Horse year was 1966, the next is 2086.
The 2026 festival calendar
Fifteen days from the eve to the first full moon; the dates below are for 2026 only.
| Day | Date in 2026 | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Little New Year 小年 | 10 February 2026 | The Kitchen God is sent off with sweets; the house cleaning begins. |
| New Year's Eve 除夕 | 16 February 2026, Monday | Reunion dinner, red couplets on the door, staying up to see the year in. |
| New Year's Day 初一 | 17 February 2026, Tuesday | The Year of the Horse begins; red envelopes, visits in order of seniority, no sweeping. |
| Day 2 初二 | 18 February 2026 | Married daughters visit their parents. |
| Day 5 初五 | 21 February 2026 | Shops reopen and the God of Wealth is welcomed with firecrackers. |
| Lantern Festival 元宵 | 3 March 2026, Tuesday | First full moon: lanterns, riddles, sweet rice balls. The season closes. |
In mainland China the public holiday usually runs from the eve for seven or eight days; Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia each keep their own, shorter, holiday. How the days are kept, in more detail: the traditions.
What is particular to 2026
2026 is a Fire Horse year, 丙午, the 43th of the sixty stem-and-branch pairs. The same pairing last fell in 1966 and comes again in 2086; the previous Horse year was 2014, the next is 2038. Its 纳音 "sound" in the old almanacs is 天河水.
New Year's Day falls on a Tuesday; the reunion dinner is the Monday evening before. The festival lands on 17 February in the Western calendar, close to the latest it can fall.
丙午, the Fire Horse, is the most notorious pairing in the cycle. In Japan, where the same calendar is used, the belief that Fire Horse women bring misfortune cut the 1966 birth rate by roughly a quarter in a single year; demographers still cite it as the clearest case of a superstition visible in national statistics. Whether 2026 repeats the dip in Japan is being watched.
A child born between 17 February 2026 and 5 February 2027 is a Fire Horse: Energetic, independent and straightforward. The Horse loves open space and company in equal measure, and is happiest in motion. A baby born in January 2026 before the new year is still a Snake.
Chinese New Year in other years
The second new moon after the winter solstice, so it moves between 21 January and 20 February. Every year from 1924 to 2050.
- 202410 February 2024, Wood Dragon
- 202529 January 2025, Wood Snake
- 20276 February 2027, Fire Goat
- 202826 January 2028, Earth Monkey
- 202913 February 2029, Earth Rooster
- 20303 February 2030, Metal Dog
- 203123 January 2031, Metal Pig
- 203211 February 2032, Water Rat
- 203331 January 2033, Water Ox
- 203419 February 2034, Wood Tiger
- 20358 February 2035, Wood Rabbit
Questions
When is Chinese New Year 2026?
Tuesday, 17 February 2026. New Year's Eve is 16 February 2026, and the Lantern Festival that closes the celebrations is 3 March 2026.
What animal is 2026 in the Chinese zodiac?
The Horse. From 17 February 2026 to 5 February 2027 it is the year of the Fire Horse (丙午). Before 17 February 2026, the year still belongs to the previous animal, the Snake.
Why does the date change every year?
The festival falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, so it moves between 21 January and 20 February on the Western calendar.
How long does Chinese New Year last?
Fifteen days, from New Year's Day to the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth of the first lunar month. Most people have a week of public holiday in mainland China.
Born in a Horse year?
Your animal depends on the exact date, not the calendar year.
Find your animal
Enter your birthday and we count it by the lunar calendar: the animal, its element, your lunar birth date and your next zodiac year.
Chinese zodiac calculatorWant the Horse in ink on your wall? The zodiac poster sets the animal above your name and lunar birthday. Giving a Chinese name this new year? Three real names, free.