Began February 12, 2002 · 354 days long
2002: year of the Water Horse
The Horse year started on February 12, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 2002 before that date is a Snake.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 12, 2002 7:41 AM UTC
- In Beijing
- 3:41 PM Tue, Feb 12 · sets the date
- Year of the Horse
- 354 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Feb 1, 2003 10:48 AM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 2002: the new moon in your city
The Water Horse year opened with the new moon at 7:41 AM UTC on February 12, 2002 — 3:41 PM on February 12 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 2:41 AM on February 12 in New York, 7:41 AM on February 12 in London and 6:41 PM on February 12 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Tue, Feb 12, 2002 |
| Honolulu United States | 9:41 PM Mon, Feb 11, 2002 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 10:41 PM Mon, Feb 11, 2002 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 11:41 PM Mon, Feb 11, 2002 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 12:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 12:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 1:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 1:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 2:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 2:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 2:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 2:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 3:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 4:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 4:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 5:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC−2 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 7:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 7:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 8:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 8:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 8:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 9:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 9:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 9:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 9:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 10:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 10:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 11:11 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 11:41 AM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 12:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 1:11 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 1:26 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 1:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 2:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 2:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 3:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 3:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 3:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 3:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 4:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 4:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 6:11 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 5:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 6:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 8:41 PM Tue, Feb 12, 2002 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 2002 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 Horse personality
Anyone born from February 12, 2002 through January 31, 2003 is a Water Horse: the yang water stem 壬 over the 午 branch.
Water controls the Horse's own Fire in the five-element cycle, so the year's element pushes against the sign rather than with it. Water brings adaptability, perception and diplomacy — traditionally the most intuitive version, and the most easily influenced.
Stem and branch
2002 is 壬午 (Rénwǔ)
Na yin — the sounding element
Willow Wood 楊柳木
The willow bends in wind and water without breaking. The image is flexibility, grace and adaptability — strength that comes from yielding rather than resisting.
2002 therefore carries water from its stem and wood 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, 2002 and February 4, 2003, Beijing time. The Horse year spans February 12, 2002 to January 31, 2003, so neither date sits inside it: a blind year (无春年). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 2002 Horse
The 午 branch puts a 2002 Horse opposite the Rat on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Rat year after it was 2008. Its harmony partner is the Goat, whose year followed straight after, in 2003. How the Horse and Rat get on →
Horses born in 2002 turn 24 in 2026 — 25 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 2002
- Born January 1 – February 11, 2002: a Metal Snake, the animal of 2001.
- Born February 12, 2002 or later in the year: a Water Horse.
This is one of the late new years: 42 days, from New Year's Day to February 11, still belong to the Snake. That is about one US birth in 9 (11.1%, SSA records 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 2002
Why 354 days, and not 365
No leap month this time: from February 12, 2002 to January 31, 2003, 2002 ran twelve months, six of 30 days and six of 29 — 354 days.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 9th and 11th.
Festival dates in the 2002 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Tue, Feb 26, 2002 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Sat, Jun 15, 2002 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Thu, Aug 15, 2002 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Fri, Aug 23, 2002 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Sat, Sep 21, 2002 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Mon, Oct 14, 2002 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Sun, Dec 22, 2002 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Fri, Jan 10, 2003 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 5:16 PM on February 27, the day 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 9:59 PM Beijing time on September 21.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 2002
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 27 of the 110 new years in the table fall later in the calendar than February 12. Two other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1990 began on January 27; twelve years later, 2014 began on January 31 — both marked in lavender with the other Horse years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 2002: Zodiac Year of the Water Horse.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2002/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 2002: Zodiac Year of the Water Horse |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2002/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}