Began February 7, 1997 · 355 days long
1997: year of the Fire Ox
The Ox year started on February 7, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1997 before that date is a Rat.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 7, 1997 3:06 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 11:06 PM Fri, Feb 7 · sets the date
- Year of the Ox
- 355 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Jan 28, 1998 6:01 AM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1997: the new moon in your city
The Fire Ox year opened with the new moon at 3:06 PM UTC on February 7, 1997 — 11:06 PM on February 7 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 10:06 AM on February 7 in New York, 3:06 PM on February 7 in London and 2:06 AM on February 8 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Fri, Feb 7, 1997 |
| Honolulu United States | 5:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 6:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 7:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 8:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 8:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 9:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 9:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 10:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 10:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 10:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 10:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 11:06 AM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 12:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 12:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 1:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC−2 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 3:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 3:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 4:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 4:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 4:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 5:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 5:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 5:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 5:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 6:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 6:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 6:36 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 7:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 8:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 8:36 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 8:51 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 9:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 10:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 10:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 11:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 11:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 11:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 11:06 PM Fri, Feb 7, 1997 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 12:06 AM Sat, Feb 8, 1997 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 12:06 AM Sat, Feb 8, 1997 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 1:36 AM Sat, Feb 8, 1997 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 1:06 AM Sat, Feb 8, 1997 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 2:06 AM Sat, Feb 8, 1997 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 4:06 AM Sat, Feb 8, 1997 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1997 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 Fire Ox personality
Anyone born from February 7, 1997 through January 27, 1998 is a Fire Ox: the yin fire stem 丁 over the 丑 branch.
Fire feeds the Ox's own Earth in the five-element cycle, so this Ox is the best supported of the five. Fire brings intensity, visibility and speed — traditionally the most driven version, and the quickest to burn through its own energy.
Stem and branch
1997 is 丁丑 (Dīngchǒu)
Na yin — the sounding element
Water in the Ravine 澗下水
Clear water running at the bottom of a gully. The image is purity and persistence in a narrow course — quiet, clean energy that finds its way through difficult ground.
1997 therefore carries fire from its stem and water 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, 1997 and February 4, 1998, Beijing time. The Ox year spans February 7, 1997 to January 27, 1998, so neither date sits inside it: a blind year (无春年). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1997 Ox
The 丑 branch puts a 1997 Ox opposite the Goat on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Goat year after it was 2003. Its harmony partner is the Rat, whose year came round 11 years later, in 2008. How the Ox and Goat get on →
Oxen born in 1997 turn 29 in 2026 — 30 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1997
- Born January 1 – February 6, 1997: a Fire Rat, the animal of 1996.
- Born February 7, 1997 or later in the year: a Fire Ox.
A year-only calculator mislabels 37 days of 1997, 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 Ox across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Ox.
The lunar calendar of 1997
Why 355 days, and not 365
No month was doubled in 1997, so the year ended on January 27, 1998 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, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th.
Festival dates in the 1997 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Fri, Feb 21, 1997 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Mon, Jun 9, 1997 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Sat, Aug 9, 1997 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Sun, Aug 17, 1997 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Tue, Sep 16, 1997 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Fri, Oct 10, 1997 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Mon, Dec 22, 1997 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Tue, Jan 6, 1998 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 6:26 PM on February 22, the day after the Lantern Festival. The festival night of September 16 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 2:50 AM Beijing time on September 17 — 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 1997
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, 1997 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, 1985 began on February 20; twelve years later, 2009 began on January 26 — both marked in lavender with the other Ox years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1997: Zodiac Year of the Fire Ox.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1997/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1997: Zodiac Year of the Fire Ox |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1997/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}