Guide
Year of the Horse 2026: The Two Dates It Starts On
The Year of the Horse started twice. By the stem-branch reckoning it began at about 4.02am on 4 February 2026. By the lunar calendar it began on 17 February 2026. Thirteen days sit between the two, and both boundaries are in ordinary use here, which is the part almost nobody explains.
That gap is why a baby born in Singapore between 4 and 16 February 2026 is a Snake to one relative and a Horse to another, and both of them are following a real convention. The zodiac calculator settles the lunar half of that: it reads a birth date against the Hong Kong Observatory's Chinese New Year table, so a birthday falling before that year's Chinese New Year comes back under the previous animal.
The two boundaries, and who uses which
The lunar boundary is Chinese New Year: the first day of the first lunar month, 17 February 2026, per the Hong Kong Observatory's conversion table, which labels the year Bing-wu, the Horse.
The solar boundary is 立春, the start of spring, the first of the twenty-four solar terms. It is not a lunar date at all. It is the instant the sun reaches 315 degrees of celestial longitude, which pins it to 3, 4 or 5 February every year. The Purple Mountain Observatory put it at 4.02am on 4 February 2026 (its published solar-term times).
| Reckoning | Horse year begins | Used by | A birth on 10 Feb 2026 is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lunar, at Chinese New Year | 17 Feb 2026 | Popular usage, almanac and calendar publishers, most zodiac websites | Snake |
| Stem-branch, at 立春 | 4 Feb 2026 | BaZi (八字) and feng shui practice, the 通胜 almanac, fortune readings | Horse |
The split is not a folk muddle. It runs through the specialists too. Wang Sichao of the Purple Mountain Observatory held that the zodiac year turns at the first day of the first lunar month; Li Min of the Jiangsu Astronomical Society held that it turns at 立春, and that traditional almanacs and fate-calculation have always worked that way (China News Service).
The practical test: if you were given a reading with four pillars of two characters each, it used 立春. If a website asked only for your birth year, it used Chinese New Year. Neither is wrong. Ask which one you were handed before arguing about it.
Why the queues form on 4 February and not on New Year's Day
Singapore gives the solar boundary a visible form that most of the region does not. On Li Chun day, people deposit money to start the year's cash flow, and queues build at cash deposit machines across the island. Feng shui masters publish hour-by-hour tables, sliced by zodiac sign, and now generally accept an online transfer as counting (AsiaOne, MoneySmart).
In 2026 that fell on 4 February, thirteen days before Chinese New Year. So the year's first money ritual happened while the lunar calendar still read Snake, and the second one, the ang bao, happened in the Horse year. Nobody finds this strange, because the two systems are simply both running.
Two things worth knowing before next February. The published timetables disagree with each other by up to an hour on when the auspicious window opens, so pick one source and stop cross-checking. And the 7am to 9am slot is the one that queues, which is a poor reason to take leave when a transfer at lunchtime is accepted.
What is left of the Horse year
Three dates close it out. The Horse year does not end on 31 December, and it does not end at Li Chun either, unless you are using the solar reckoning, in which case that is exactly when it ends.
| Date | What changes |
|---|---|
| 4 Feb 2027, around 9.46am | 立春. The Horse year's only start of spring, and the stem-branch handover to the Goat |
| 5 Feb 2027 | Last day of the lunar Horse year |
| 6 Feb 2027 (Saturday) | Chinese New Year. The lunar handover to the Goat |
The Purple Mountain Observatory publishes its exact solar-term times for a year around the turn of that year, so treat the 2027 minute as provisional until then; the date itself, 4 February 2027, is fixed in the Observatory table for 2027.
For what the Horse year has meant on the ground here, the Chinatown light-up and the almanac coin are on the Horse sign page. For the incoming sign, including the Chinatown centrepiece vote already under way, see the Goat page. The gazetted holiday dates, and what a Saturday Chinese New Year does to them, are on 2027.
The Goat year has no spring in it, and that is arithmetic
Line the two calendars up and something falls out that no zodiac page mentions. A lunar year of twelve months runs about 354 days against a solar year of 365, so a leap month is inserted every two or three years. Whether a given lunar year catches two, one or zero 立春 depends entirely on where those extra days land.
| Lunar year | Runs | Length | 立春 inside it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snake, Yi-si | 29 Jan 2025 to 16 Feb 2026 | 384 days (leap sixth month) | Two: 3 Feb 2025 and 4 Feb 2026 |
| Horse, Bing-wu | 17 Feb 2026 to 5 Feb 2027 | 354 days | One: 4 Feb 2027 |
| Goat, Ding-wei | 6 Feb 2027 to 25 Jan 2028 | 354 days | None |
The Goat year misses on both ends. 立春 2027 falls on 4 February, two days before it starts. 立春 2028 falls on 4 February, ten days after it ends, because Chinese New Year 2028 comes early, on 26 January. All four dates are in the Observatory tables above.
A lunar year with no 立春 is a 无春年, also called a 寡妇年 or widow year, and the folk gloss is that it is a bad year to marry: no spring, no fertility. It is worth knowing this is coming, because someone in the family will raise it. It is also worth knowing how thin it is. Tian Zhaoyuan, a folklore professor at East China Normal University, has said the widow-year claim does not appear in the standard folklore literature at all, and that no data links these years to marriage or childbirth (The Paper). 2019, 2021 and 2024 were the same kind of year. The pattern is a leap-month artefact and nothing else.
There is a second-order effect worth watching for, though. If enough couples believe it, 2026 dates get pulled forward and 2027 dates open up, which is a booking argument rather than a fortune one. Ask your venue what its 2027 diary actually looks like instead of assuming either way.
Common questions
When does the Year of the Horse end? 5 February 2027 by the lunar calendar, with the Goat year starting at Chinese New Year on 6 February 2027. By the stem-branch reckoning used in BaZi, it ends at 立春 on 4 February 2027.
My baby was born in early February 2026. Snake or Horse? Born 4 to 16 February 2026, the answer depends on the system. Stem-branch reckoning says Horse, the lunar calendar says Snake. From 17 February 2026 onward there is no ambiguity.
Is 2027 really a bad year to get married? The lunar year starting 6 February 2027 contains no 立春, which is what the widow-year label describes. Folklore scholars dispute that the label has any traditional standing, and there is no evidence behind the marriage claim. It recurs roughly every two to three years.
When is Li Chun 2027? 4 February 2027, a Thursday, at roughly 9.46am. Confirm the minute against the Purple Mountain Observatory list once it is out around the turn of 2027, since the local deposit timetables are built off it and do not always agree.
Does anything official in Singapore run on the zodiac year? No. The two gazetted Chinese New Year public holidays follow the lunar date, not the zodiac or the solar term, and Li Chun is not a holiday. See 2026 and 2027.
More guides
When Is Chinese New Year in Singapore? Dates to 2036 and the Rule Behind Them
Chinese New Year 2027 is Saturday 6 February, 2028 is Wednesday 26 January. The date is not random: it steps back about eleven days a year, then jumps forward about nineteen when a thirteenth lunar month is added. Here are the dates to 2036, the arithmetic, and which of them Singapore has actually gazetted.
Chinese New Year Customs in Singapore: Whose New Year Are You Visiting?
Singapore keeps five Chinese New Year calendars at once. Hokkien households build the season around the ninth day, Teochew households around the seventh, and Cantonese and Hakka households start a week before the eve. How to tell which one you are visiting, and what to do at the door.