Chinese New Year 2026: Tuesday 17 February 2026, the Year of the Fire Horse
The days of the New Year
- New Year’s Eve: Monday 16 February 2026. The reunion dinner.
- Chinese New Year’s Day: Tuesday 17 February 2026. The first day of the year.
- Day 2: Wednesday 18 February 2026. Traditionally the day married daughters visit their parents.
- Day 7, Ren Ri (人日): Monday 23 February 2026. Ren Ri, “everyone’s birthday”; a day for yee sang.
- Day 9, the Jade Emperor’s birthday (天公诞): Wednesday 25 February 2026. Hokkien families mark it from the night before.
- Day 15, Chap Goh Mei (元宵): Tuesday 3 March 2026. Chap Goh Mei, the last day of the New Year.
- Start of Spring (Li Chun, 立春): 4 February 2026, 04:02 (UTC+8). The BaZi year of the Fire Horse begins at this moment, not at New Year. Anyone born between the two is already in the new year by BaZi. Check your sign · Why the Start of Spring
Add these to your calendar (.ics)
The calendar file holds the dates and nothing about you.
The rest of 2026’s festivals: Qing Ming, Dragon Boat, Mid-Autumn and more
Reopening after the holiday: the almanac’s days, Day 2 to Day 15
The days the almanac (Tung Shing, 通书) lists as good for opening a business (Kai Shi, 开市) and does not also list to avoid. Each day clashes with one animal, and some people born in that animal’s years avoid it.
- Thursday 19 February 2026 — Day 3; clashes with the Horse (马)
- Saturday 28 February 2026 — Day 12; clashes with the Rabbit (兔)
- Tuesday 3 March 2026 — Day 15; clashes with the Horse (马)
The good-for and avoid lists come from the open-source lunar calendar library (6tail), whose author built them from a popular Chinese calendar website’s data. Almanacs differ on these lists, and unlike the rest of this site they are not quoted from a classical text. How the rest is worked out
The signs that “offend” 2026 on the folk lists
Rat, Ox, Rabbit, Horse. That is the folk custom, by sign; the classics go by the day you were born. 2026 for you: money, work and people, by day master