Chinese New Year 2027: Date, Fire Goat Sign and Korean Seollal

Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday, February 6, 2027. In Korea the same holiday, Seollal (설날), lands one day later, on Sunday, February 7, 2027. Both open the Year of the Goat, and because the year’s heavenly stem is fire, 2027 is the Fire Goat year, written 丁未 (jeong-mi in Korean, dīng wèi in Mandarin).

There’s a third date hiding behind those two. Korean saju and Chinese bazi don’t change the year on the lunar new year at all. They change it at Ipchun (입춘, 立春), the start of spring, which in 2027 arrives on Thursday, February 4, around 10:46 Korea time. The Moon Rabbit keeps all three in one notebook, so here they are side by side.

The 2027 dates at a glance

So by the lunar calendar, the Goat year runs from February 6, 2027 to January 25, 2028 in China, and from February 7, 2027 to January 26, 2028 in Korea. By saju, it runs from Ipchun to Ipchun.

Why Seollal and Chinese New Year land on different days

Both holidays are the first day of the first lunar month, which begins on the day of the new moon. The new moon of February 2027 arrives just before 1 a.m. Korea time on February 7. Korea runs one hour ahead of China, so in Beijing that same moment is still a few minutes before midnight on February 6.

Korea uses its own lunar calendar, computed for Korea time by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. China computes for Beijing time. When the new moon sits that close to midnight, the two calendars put the new year on different days. It happens every so often; 2028 has the same one-day gap.

For a Korean family this changes nothing about how the holiday feels. The three-day Seollal break covers the day before, the day itself and the day after, so February 6 to 8. Because Seollal falls on a Sunday, Korea’s substitute-holiday rule usually adds one more weekday off. Check the official calendar closer to the date.

What “Fire Goat” means

Every year in the sixty-year cycle has two characters: a heavenly stem on top and an earthly branch below.

• 丁 (jeong) is yin fire. Think candle or lantern rather than bonfire: small, steady, warm. Fire’s traditional color is red, which is why you’ll also hear “Red Goat.”
• 未 (mi) is the Goat, an earth branch. It stands for warm, dry late-summer soil, and it holds three hidden stems inside: 己 earth, 乙 wood and 丁 fire.

Goat, sheep and ram are the same animal here. The character 羊 covers all three, so translations differ but the sign doesn’t.

The last 丁未 year was 1967, and the one before was 1907. Other recent Goat years carried different elements: 1979 was an earth Goat, 1991 a metal Goat, 2003 a water Goat and 2015 a wood Goat. The element comes from the stem, and the stem changes every year.

For a sign-by-sign look at how each animal meets 丁未, worked out with the same branch rules for all twelve, see the 2027 zodiac page.

Which sign are you if you were born in early February?

This is the question that trips people up most. If you were born between late January and mid-February, your sign depends on which rule you use:

1. By the lunar new year, the popular rule, you’re a Goat only if you were born on or after February 6, 2027 (China) or February 7 (Korea).
2. By saju and bazi, you’re a Goat if you were born after Ipchun, February 4, 2027, 10:46 Korea time. A baby born on February 5, 2027 is a Horse by the lunar calendar but already has a 丁未 year pillar in saju.

The same logic works for any year. The zodiac years chart lists the lunar new year and Ipchun dates side by side, so you can check your own birthday.

How Koreans spend Seollal

Seollal is a family holiday, and most of it happens at home:

• Tteokguk (떡국): rice-cake soup eaten on the morning of Seollal. The old saying is that a bowl adds a year to your age.
• Sebae (세배): a deep bow to elders, who answer with good wishes and an envelope of new-year money, sebaetdon (세뱃돈).
• Charye (차례): a memorial table for ancestors, set in families that keep the custom.
• Fortune checks: plenty of people look up their saju or tojeong bigyeol, a traditional yearly almanac reading, in the first weeks of the year.

The Korean New Year traditions post covers these in more detail.

How the 12 signs meet the Fire Goat

In saju every sign’s branch has fixed links with 未. A few come up most often:

None of these is good or bad luck by itself. A sign is one character out of eight, and your day pillar and 10-year luck cycle usually say more about how a year goes. If you’d like to see your whole chart, the free saju calculator works it out from your birth date, time and city.

FAQ

When is Chinese New Year 2027?

Chinese New Year 2027 is Saturday, February 6, 2027. Korean Seollal is one day later, Sunday, February 7, because the new moon falls just after midnight in Korea and just before midnight in China.

What animal is 2027 in the Chinese zodiac?

2027 is the Year of the Goat, also translated as Sheep or Ram. Its stem is 丁, yin fire, so it’s the Fire Goat or Red Goat year. The last Fire Goat year was 1967.

When does the Year of the Goat end?

By the lunar calendar it ends the day before the next new year: January 25, 2028 in China and January 26, 2028 in Korea. In saju the 丁未 year pillar lasts until Ipchun on February 4, 2028.

Does my birthday need the lunar new year or Ipchun?

For everyday zodiac talk, people use the lunar new year. For a saju or bazi chart, the year pillar changes at Ipchun, around February 4. If you were born between the two dates, the two rules give different animals.