Began January 29, 2025 · 384 days long
2025: year of the Wood Snake
The Snake year started on January 29, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 2025 before that date is a Dragon.
- Opening new moon
- Jan 29, 2025 12:36 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 8:36 PM Wed, Jan 29 · sets the date
- Year of the Snake
- 384 days 13 lunar months, one of them leap
- It ends
- Feb 17, 2026 12:01 PM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 2025: the new moon in your city
The Wood Snake year opened with the new moon at 12:36 PM UTC on January 29, 2025 — 8:36 PM on January 29 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 7:36 AM on January 29 in New York, 12:36 PM on January 29 in London and 11:36 PM on January 29 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Wed, Jan 29, 2025 |
| Honolulu United States | 2:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 3:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 4:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 5:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 5:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 6:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 6:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 7:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 7:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 7:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 7:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 8:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 9:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 9:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 9:36 AM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 12:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 12:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 1:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 1:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 1:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 2:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 2:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 2:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 3:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+3 |
| Moscow Russia | 3:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 3:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 4:06 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 4:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 5:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 6:06 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 6:21 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 6:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 7:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 7:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 8:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 8:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 8:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 8:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 9:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 9:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 11:06 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 10:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 11:36 PM Wed, Jan 29, 2025 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 1:36 AM Thu, Jan 30, 2025 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 2025 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 Wood Snake personality
Anyone born from January 29, 2025 through February 16, 2026 is a Wood Snake: the yin wood stem 乙 over the 巳 branch.
Wood feeds the Snake's own Fire in the five-element cycle, so this Snake is the best supported of the five. Wood brings growth, patience and cooperation — traditionally the most flexible version, one that expands rather than forces.
Stem and branch
2025 is 乙巳 (Yǐsì)
Na yin — the sounding element
Lamp Fire 覆燈火
The flame of a covered lamp. The image is light for a small space: steady illumination that guides others at close range and needs protection from wind.
2025 therefore carries wood from its stem and fire from its na yin. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
A double spring year
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 3, 2025 and February 4, 2026, Beijing time. The Snake year spans January 29, 2025 to February 16, 2026, so both dates sit inside it: a double spring year (双春). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 2025 Snake
The 巳 branch puts a 2025 Snake opposite the Pig on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Pig year after it is 2031. Its harmony partner is the Monkey, due 3 years later, in 2028. How the Snake and Pig get on →
Snakes born in 2025 turn 1 in 2026 — 2 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 2025
- Born January 1 – January 28, 2025: a Wood Dragon, the animal of 2024.
- Born January 29, 2025 or later in the year: a Wood Snake.
A year-only calculator mislabels 28 days of 2025, everything from January 1 to January 28. Those dates hold 7.4% of US births (SSA, 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Snake across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Snake.
The lunar calendar of 2025
Why 384 days, and not 365
2025 repeated its sixth month: the leap month 闰六月 ran from July 25 to August 22 and stretched the year to 384 days. Seven of the 13 months had 30 days.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th. Three 30-day months ran back to back, from month 9 to month 11.
Festival dates in the 2025 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Wed, Feb 12, 2025 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Sat, May 31, 2025 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Fri, Aug 29, 2025 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Sat, Sep 6, 2025 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Mon, Oct 6, 2025 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Wed, Oct 29, 2025 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Sun, Dec 21, 2025 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Mon, Jan 26, 2026 |
At the Lantern Festival on February 12 the year's first full moon came that same day, at 9:53 PM Beijing time. The festival night of October 6 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 11:47 AM Beijing time on October 7 — 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 2025
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 28 of the 110 new years in the table fall earlier in the calendar than January 29. Three other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 2013 began on February 10 — marked in lavender with the other Snake years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 2025: Zodiac Year of the Wood Snake.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2025/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 2025: Zodiac Year of the Wood Snake |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2025/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}