Began February 7, 1978 · 355 days long
1978: year of the Earth Horse
The Horse year started on February 7, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1978 before that date is a Snake.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 7, 1978 2:54 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 10:54 PM Tue, Feb 7 · sets the date
- Year of the Horse
- 355 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Jan 28, 1979 6:20 AM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1978: the new moon in your city
The Earth Horse year opened with the new moon at 2:54 PM UTC on February 7, 1978 — 10:54 PM on February 7 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 9:54 AM on February 7 in New York, 2:54 PM on February 7 in London and 1:54 AM on February 8 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Tue, Feb 7, 1978 |
| Honolulu United States | 4:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 4:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−10 |
| Los Angeles United States | 6:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 7:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 7:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 8:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 8:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 9:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 9:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 9:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 9:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 10:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 11:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 11:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 11:54 AM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 2:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 2:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 3:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 3:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 3:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 4:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 4:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 4:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 4:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 5:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 5:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 6:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+4 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 6:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 7:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 8:24 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 8:24 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+5:30 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 8:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 9:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 9:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 10:24 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+7:30 |
| Beijing China | 10:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 10:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 10:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 11:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 11:54 PM Tue, Feb 7, 1978 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 1:24 AM Wed, Feb 8, 1978 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 12:54 AM Wed, Feb 8, 1978 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 1:54 AM Wed, Feb 8, 1978 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 3:54 AM Wed, Feb 8, 1978 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1978 date as in the Hong Kong Observatory calendar. Local times: IANA time zones, to the minute.
18 pages · printable
The 2027 Sky Calendar — free PDF
Every retrograde, eclipse, new and full moon of 2027 to the minute, already converted to your city. A month to a page, ready to print.
Personality
The Earth Horse personality
Anyone born from February 7, 1978 through January 27, 1979 is an Earth Horse: the yang earth stem 戊 over the 午 branch.
The Horse's own Fire feeds Earth here, which drains as much as it gives: productive, but inclined to spend itself. Earth brings steadiness, practicality and patience — traditionally the most reliable version, and the slowest to change direction.
Stem and branch
1978 is 戊午 (Wùwǔ)
Na yin — the sounding element
Fire in the Sky 天上火
The sun itself. The strongest fire image: warmth and light given to everything, prominence, and a presence that is noticed whether it wants to be or not.
1978 therefore carries earth from its stem and fire from its na yin. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
A "blind" year with no spring
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 4, 1978 and February 4, 1979, Beijing time. The Horse year spans February 7, 1978 to January 27, 1979, so neither date sits inside it: a blind year (无春年). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1978 Horse
The 午 branch puts a 1978 Horse opposite the Rat on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Rat year after it was 1984. Its harmony partner is the Goat, whose year followed straight after, in 1979. How the Horse and Rat get on →
Horses born in 1978 turn 48 in 2026 — 49 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1978
- Born January 1 – February 6, 1978: a Fire Snake, the animal of 1977.
- Born February 7, 1978 or later in the year: an Earth Horse.
A year-only calculator mislabels 37 days of 1978, everything from January 1 to February 6. Roughly one US birth in 10 falls on those dates — 9.8% in SSA records for 2000–2014. Check your exact date →
The Horse across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Horse.
The lunar calendar of 1978
Why 355 days, and not 365
No month was doubled in 1978, so the year ended on January 27, 1979 after twelve months — seven long ones of 30 days and five short ones of 29, 355 days in all.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 11th.
Festival dates in the 1978 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Tue, Feb 21, 1978 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Sat, Jun 10, 1978 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Thu, Aug 10, 1978 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Fri, Aug 18, 1978 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Sun, Sep 17, 1978 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Tue, Oct 10, 1978 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Fri, Dec 22, 1978 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Sat, Jan 6, 1979 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 9:26 AM on February 23, two days after the Lantern Festival. This time the calendar and the sky agreed: the Moon was exactly full on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, at 3:01 AM Beijing time on September 17.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 1978
Lengths differ because a leap month is inserted every two or three years. This is what makes the new year date jump rather than drift.
By date, 1978 sits mid-table: of the 110 new years, 63 fall earlier in the calendar and 44 later. Two other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1966 began on January 21; twelve years later, 1990 began on January 27 — both marked in lavender with the other Horse years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1978: Zodiac Year of the Earth Horse.” Accessed October 29, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1978/
For Wikipedia
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