When is Chinese New Year 2027?
Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday, February 6. The Year of the Fire Horse, which began on February 17, 2026, ends on New Year's Eve, Friday, February 5, the night of the reunion dinner, and the Year of the Fire Goat begins at midnight. The celebrations run for fifteen days and end with the Lantern Festival on Saturday, February 20, the fifteenth day, when the Moon is all but full. In China the holiday is called the Spring Festival, 春节 chūnjié.
Why the date changes every year
The Chinese calendar is lunisolar. Each month begins on the day of a new moon, and the solar terms keep the months in step with the seasons. New Year's Day is the first day of the first month, which usually begins at the second new moon after the winter solstice. So the festival moves with the Moon: always between January 21 and February 20, about eleven days earlier each year, until a leap month moves it about nineteen days later.
In all but three years from 1900 to 2099 the New Year is that second new moon. In 1985 and 2015 a new moon fell on the day of the solstice itself, and in 2034 a leap month comes first, so the New Year waits for the third.
What counts is the date of the new moon in China. In 2027 it comes at 11:56 PM Beijing time on February 6, about four minutes before midnight, so February 6 is New Year's Day. The same new moon passes in front of the Sun as an annular solar eclipse. Every new moon and its time is listed on the new moon calendar.
Lunar New Year in Korea and Vietnam
Korea's Seollal and Vietnam's Tết follow the same lunar months, but each country dates the new moon in its own time zone: UTC+9 in Korea and UTC+7 in Vietnam, against UTC+8 in China. Usually all three land on the same day. When the new moon comes in the last hour before midnight in Beijing, though, it is already the next day in Seoul. That happens in 2027: the new moon falls at 12:56 AM on February 7 in Korea, so Seollal is on Sunday, February 7, a day after China's New Year. In Hanoi it comes at 10:56 PM on February 6, and Tết falls on Saturday, February 6, with China. Vietnam's zodiac also has the Cat where China's has the Rabbit, and the Water Buffalo for the Ox.
The Year of the Fire Goat
The Goat is the eighth of the twelve animals. It is sometimes called the Sheep or the Ram, since the Chinese 羊 yáng covers all three. Tradition associates people born in Goat years with being gentle, creative, compassionate and calm. Each animal year also has one of the five elements, and 2027 is a Fire year: 丁未 dīngwèi, a yin Fire Goat, the first since 1967 and the last until 2087. Anyone born from February 6, 2027 to January 25, 2028 is a Fire Goat.
The Goat's traditional allies are the Rabbit and the Pig, its trio of natural friends, and its secret friend is the Horse. Its opposite, the Ox, is said to clash with it, and the Rat to harm it. For people born in Goat years (1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003 and 2015), 2027 is their own animal's year, 本命年 běnmìngnián, which tradition treats as a year for extra care, traditionally met by wearing red. The Year of the Goat page has every Goat year since 1900 with its exact dates.
How the fifteen days are celebrated
- New Year's Eve. Families gather for the reunion dinner, 年夜饭 niányèfàn, the most important meal of the year, and stay up to see the year in.
- Red everywhere. Red envelopes of money, 红包 hóngbāo, go to children and unmarried relatives. Doors carry red couplets and the character 福 fú, for good fortune. Red is read as warding off bad luck.
- Fireworks at midnight. In the old story they scared away Nian, a beast that came at the turn of the year.
- A clean start. Houses are swept before New Year's Day. On the first days sweeping is avoided, so as not to sweep the new luck out of the door.
- The Lantern Festival. On the fifteenth day, 元宵节 yuánxiāojié, lanterns, riddles and sweet rice dumplings close the festival under a moon that is full or nearly so.
Chinese New Year 2028 and after
Chinese New Year 2028 falls on Wednesday, January 26, when the Year of the Earth Monkey begins. It is followed by the Earth Rooster on Tuesday, February 13, 2029 and the Metal Dog on Sunday, February 3, 2030. The table below lists every New Year from 1930 to 2040, and the lookup at the top of the page covers any year from 1900 to 2099. To find your own animal, above all with a January or February birthday, use the Chinese zodiac calculator, which checks your birthday against that year's New Year. BaZi goes further, with all four pillars of your birth.