Began February 13, 1983 · 354 days long
1983: year of the Water Pig
The Pig year started on February 13, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1983 before that date is a Dog.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 13, 1983 12:32 AM UTC
- In Beijing
- 8:32 AM Sun, Feb 13 · sets the date
- Year of the Pig
- 354 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Feb 1, 1984 11:46 PM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1983: the new moon in your city
The Water Pig year opened with the new moon at 12:32 AM UTC on February 13, 1983 — 8:32 AM on February 13 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 7:32 PM on February 12 in New York, 12:32 AM on February 13 in London and 11:32 AM on February 13 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Sun, Feb 13, 1983 |
| Honolulu United States | 2:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 2:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−10 |
| Los Angeles United States | 4:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 5:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 5:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 6:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 6:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 7:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 7:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 7:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 7:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 8:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 9:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 9:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 9:32 PM Sat, Feb 12, 1983 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 12:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 12:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 1:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 1:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 1:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 2:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 2:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 2:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 3:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+3 |
| Moscow Russia | 3:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 3:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 4:02 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 4:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 5:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 6:02 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 6:02 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+5:30 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 6:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 7:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 7:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 8:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 8:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 8:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 8:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 9:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 9:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 11:02 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 10:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 11:32 AM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 1:32 PM Sun, Feb 13, 1983 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1983 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 Water Pig personality
Anyone born from February 13, 1983 through February 1, 1984 is a Water Pig: the yin water stem 癸 over the 亥 branch.
Water is already the Pig's own element, so here it is doubled and everything typical of the sign runs at full strength. Of the five Pigs this is the most sincere, and the least inclined to compromise.
Stem and branch
1983 is 癸亥 (Guǐhài)
Na yin — the sounding element
Water of the Great Sea 大海水
The open ocean, which every river eventually reaches. The image is depth, capacity and completion — the last pair of the sixty-year cycle.
1983 therefore carries water from its stem and water from its na yin — the same element twice. 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, 1983 and February 4, 1984, Beijing time. The Pig year spans February 13, 1983 to February 1, 1984, so neither date sits inside it: a blind year (无春年). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1983 Pig
The 亥 branch puts a 1983 Pig opposite the Snake on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Snake year after it was 1989. Its harmony partner is the Tiger, whose year came round 3 years later, in 1986. How the Pig and Snake get on →
Pigs born in 1983 turn 43 in 2026 — 44 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1983
- Born January 1 – February 12, 1983: a Water Dog, the animal of 1982.
- Born February 13, 1983 or later in the year: a Water Pig.
This is one of the late new years: 43 days, from New Year's Day to February 12, still belong to the Dog. That is about one US birth in 9 (11.4%, SSA records 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Pig across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Pig.
The lunar calendar of 1983
Why 354 days, and not 365
No leap month this time: from February 13, 1983 to February 1, 1984, 1983 ran twelve months, six of 30 days and six of 29 — 354 days.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 11th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 1983 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Sun, Feb 27, 1983 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Wed, Jun 15, 1983 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Mon, Aug 15, 1983 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Tue, Aug 23, 1983 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Wed, Sep 21, 1983 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Fri, Oct 14, 1983 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Thu, Dec 22, 1983 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Tue, Jan 10, 1984 |
At the Lantern Festival on February 27 the year's first full moon came that same day, at 4:58 PM Beijing time. The festival night of September 21 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 2:36 PM Beijing time on September 22 — lunar day 16.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 1983
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.
Only 22 of the 110 new years in the table fall later in the calendar than February 13. Four other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1971 began on January 27; twelve years later, 1995 began on January 31 — both marked in lavender with the other Pig years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1983: Zodiac Year of the Water Pig.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1983/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1983: Zodiac Year of the Water Pig |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1983/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}