Zodiac series
Year of the Snake (2025 lunar year)
Lunar New Year 2025 began January 29, starting the Year of the Snake. That cycle runs until Lunar New Year 2026 on February 17, when the Year of the Horse begins. Any child born from January 29, 2025 through February 16, 2026 is usually counted as a Snake under common lunar-calendar rules, even if their passport says 2026.
In diaspora families, Snake years show up less as fortune telling and more as logistics: grandparents asking about lucky characters for names, schools doing zodiac crafts without explaining cutoffs, and cousins comparing red-envelope amounts by birth order.
Key dates
Snake year began January 29, 2025. Horse year begins February 17, 2026.
Birth date zodiac lookup
Enter a birth date to see which zodiac year applies using Lunar New Year cutoffs, not January first alone.
Result
Year of the Snake
Lunar New Year January 29, 2025 began the Year of the Snake. Classmates using January first may disagree until you explain the cutoff.
Relevant Lunar New Year: January 29, 2025 (2025)
What people say about Snake years (and what to ignore)
Folk descriptions often call Snake years thoughtful, private, or strategic. Treat these as story language, not hiring criteria for your toddler playgroup. Your child is not a meme.
If relatives tie zodiac to discipline, marriage timing, or "compatible" partners, you can acknowledge the tradition without organizing your life around it. Our compatibility lookup explains traditional pairings with an explicit folklore disclaimer.
January babies in 2026 are still Snakes
This catches schools every year. A child born January 5, 2026 is often still Year of the Snake until February 17, 2026. Classmates using January-first logic will be wrong. Use the birth date lookup on our zodiac hub before show-and-tell becomes a debate.
If your school celebrates Lunar New Year with a single performance, offer the cutoff date to teachers when you volunteer. Our news brief on school celebrations covers depth without asking one kid to represent a continent.
Gregorian windows
| Gregorian window | Zodiac year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Before Jan 29, 2025 | Dragon (2024 cycle) | 2024 LNY started Feb 10, 2024 |
| Jan 29, 2025 – Feb 16, 2026 | Snake | Current cycle until 2026 LNY |
| Feb 17, 2026 onward | Horse | 2026 LNY start |
Lunar New Year dates follow Hong Kong Observatory / standard almanac conventions used in many diaspora families. Regional temple calendars may differ by a day.
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