2026 and 2027
Chinese zodiac 2027: the year of the Fire Goat
Most of 2027 belongs to the Goat, but not all of it. The exact span of the Goat year, the Horse weeks before it, and who is having a zodiac year in 2027.
Horse or Goat? Check a 2027 birth date
Born February 5, 2027
Fire Horse
| Stem-branch | Bing-Wu 丙午, yang |
| Lunar birth date | day 29 of the 12th month, 2026 |
| That lunar year: February 17, 2026 to February 5, 2027 | |
| With the other rule | Fire Goat |
This birthday falls between Spring Commences and the lunar new year: the two rules give different animals.
All about the year of the HorseThe Chinese zodiac sign of 2027 is the Goat, and more precisely the Fire Goat, Ding-Wei in the stem-branch cycle. The Goat year runs from February 6, 2027 to January 25, 2028, according to the Hong Kong Observatory's conversion tables, so it does not match the Gregorian year: the first five weeks of 2027, up to February 5, still belong to the Fire Horse year that began in 2026, and the last weeks of 2027 and January 2028 to the Goat. In 2028 the Earth Monkey takes over on January 26, 2028. Ding is the yin Fire stem, the partner of the yang Fire stem Bing that made 2026 a Fire Horse year, and Wei is an Earth branch. The previous Fire Goat year began on February 9, 1967. For anyone born in a Goat year, 2027 is their benming year, the return of their own animal.
Born in a year of this animal?
Goat and a birth in 2027
Yes, from Feb 6, 2027
| Born Feb 6, 2027 or later | Fire Goat |
| Born before Feb 6, 2027 | Fire Horse |
| Next Goat year | 2027 |
Dates read in the HKO tables by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
The weeks that are not Goat
A birth certificate dated January 2027 says 2027, but the child's sign is the Horse. The table shows the three spans of the Gregorian year 2027 and the lunar year each belongs to.
| Births | Lunar year | Sign |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 to Feb 5, 2027 | 2026, Bing-Wu | Fire Horse |
| Feb 6, 2027 to December 31, 2027 | 2027, Ding-Wei | Fire Goat |
| January 1 to Jan 25, 2028 (2028) | 2027, Ding-Wei | Fire Goat |
Four Pillars charts start the year at Spring Commences instead, on February 4, 2027 in 2027. Under that rule, the Goat year begins two days earlier and ends on February 3, 2028, so the two rules disagree for births on February 4 and 5, 2027, and from January 26, 2028 to February 3, 2028.
When is your next zodiac year?
Fire Goat, next Goat year
2027
| It starts | February 6, 2027 |
| Age today | 59 |
| Traditional age (xusui) today | 60 |
Traditional age counts 1 at birth and adds a year at each lunar new year.
2027 as a benming year
Chinese custom calls the year when one's own animal returns the benming year and treats it as a year to be careful, which is why many people born under the Goat will wear something red in 2027, often red socks, underwear or a red string bracelet given by relatives. It is a custom of protection, not a forecast, and the elements page explains it for all signs. People born in the Fire Goat year of 1967 meet the Fire Goat again: the stem and the branch of their birth year return together, a full sixty-year cycle, which Chinese custom treats as a milestone.
Goat, Sheep or Ram on cards and stamps
English has three names for the sign because the Chinese word yang covers all three animals. The Hong Kong Observatory writes Goat; the US Postal Service, in the release for its 2026 Horse stamp, named the Ram among the stamps still to come in its series. The Goat page lists every Goat year with its dates.