Chinese Zodiac Guide1977 Chinese Zodiac: Fire Snake Dates and the February Cutoff
A birthday on February 17, 1977 and one on February 18 share the same Gregorian year, but they fall on opposite sides of Chinese New Year. That one-day difference is why a chart that says only “1977 = Snake” can give the wrong result.
Quick Answer: The 1977 Chinese zodiac year is the Fire Snake (Ding-si), from February 18, 1977 through February 6, 1978, inclusive, under the Lunar New Year convention. A birth from January 1 through February 17, 1977 still falls in the previous Fire Dragon year.
The Fire Snake year boundary
- First Fire Snake day
- February 18, 1977
- Last Fire Snake day
- February 6, 1978
- Gregorian dates earlier in 1977
- January 1 through February 17: Fire Dragon
- Traditional year pair
- Ding-si (丁巳)
- Next year begins
- February 7, 1978: Earth Horse
The cutoff is the first day of lunar month one. The dates in this guide are Gregorian dates.
One day changes the animal, not the phase
Start with two birthdays. February 17, 1977 is still in the preceding lunar year, so a person born on that date has the Fire Dragon year sign under this convention. February 18 is the first day of the next lunar year, so a person born one day later has the Fire Snake year sign. Both names include Fire. The phase alone cannot tell you which animal applies.
The Hong Kong Observatory’s 1977 table labels February 17 as day 30 of the last lunar month and puts the start of month one in the next column. Its 1976 table identifies the preceding year as Bing-chen, the Dragon. You do not need to estimate a lunar date from the moon’s appearance or assume that the change fell at the beginning of February.
The Snake year extends into February 1978
The other boundary is easy to miss when a person was born in early 1978. In the Observatory’s 1978 table, February 6 is still the last day of the preceding lunar month and February 7 is the first day of month one. A birthday on February 6 is therefore still Fire Snake; one on February 7 is Earth Horse. The end date shown here is inclusive, not the date on which Horse starts.
When using a conversion table, take the Gregorian month row and locate the numbered Gregorian day. The lunar entry below it resets to month one at Chinese New Year. Read the next year’s table as well if you are checking the end of a zodiac interval. The Chinese lunar calendar guide explains the difference between the two sets of month labels.
What Ding-si tells you
Ding is a heavenly stem and Si is an earthly branch. In the traditional phase correspondences documented in the Kenyon College table, Ding is yin Fire and Si is the Snake branch. That is the basis for the name Fire Snake; it is not a description of someone’s temperament. The year immediately before it pairs the Fire stem Bing with the Dragon branch Chen. The year after it pairs the Earth stem Wu with the Horse branch Wu, two different characters written alike in unmarked romanization.
The Hong Kong Observatory lists these three pairs consecutively in its table of the 60-year cycle. Snake comes around every 12 years, but the animal alone does not keep the same stem. If you are comparing two family birthdays 12 years apart, check the full stem and branch before calling both years Fire Snake.
When a chart gives a different February date
The 1977 Observatory table also lists Spring Commences, the solar term commonly called Li Chun, on February 4. It is printed in the solar-term column, not as the beginning of lunar month one. A date comparison that uses that solar term is asking a different question from this page’s Chinese New Year lookup. Do not swap the cutoffs halfway through a lookup.
If a family record lists a lunar birthday rather than a civil date, convert that recorded date before using the table below. Check the year and month as well as the day, and keep any leap-month label. If you already know the Gregorian date, enter that whole date in the Chinese zodiac calculator rather than relying on the birth year alone. The result here is a traditional calendar classification, not a prediction or a full birth chart.
Compare birthdays around both cutoffs
| Gregorian birthday | Year sign | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 1–Feb 17, 1977 | Fire Dragon | Before the first lunar month of Ding-si |
| Feb 18, 1977–Feb 6, 1978 | Fire Snake | Inside the Ding-si lunar year |
| Feb 7, 1978 | Earth Horse | First day of the next lunar year |
Both endpoints in the Fire Snake row are included.
Questions about 1977 birthdays
What is the 1977 Chinese zodiac animal and element?
It is Fire Snake for birthdays from February 18, 1977 through February 6, 1978. Earlier Gregorian dates in 1977 fall in the preceding Fire Dragon year.
Is February 17, 1977 a Snake birthday?
No. February 17 is the last day of the Fire Dragon year under the Lunar New Year convention. February 18 starts Fire Snake.
Can someone born in February 1978 still be a Fire Snake?
Yes. February 1 through February 6, 1978 is still in the Fire Snake year. Earth Horse starts on February 7.
Why does another chart show February 4?
February 4 is the date listed for Spring Commences in the 1977 calendar. It is a solar term, not the first day of the first lunar month. This guide uses the lunar New Year cutoff.
Calendars and phase correspondences
- Hong Kong Observatory: 1977 calendar
- Hong Kong Observatory: 1978 calendar
- Hong Kong Observatory: 1976 calendar
- Hong Kong Observatory: stems and branches
- Kenyon College: stems, phases and zodiac branches
Calendar rows and the corresponding stem and branch entries were checked on November 6, 2026.