2025 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Wood Snake

2025 is the year of the Wood Snake (乙巳 Yǐsì), from 29 January 2025 to 16 February 2026. Anyone born in 2025 before 29 January 2025 belongs to the Wood Dragon year.

• Animal: Snake
• Element: Wood (Yin)
• Cycle name: 乙巳 Yǐsì, year 42 of the 60-year cycle
• Starts: 29 January 2025
• Ends: 16 February 2026

The Wood Snake

Wood years are traditionally linked with growth, generosity and cooperation: the element of things that grow towards the light and make room for others. The Snake is the zodiac's thinker. Tradition describes Snake people as wise, intuitive and composed, elegant in manner and private about their plans. They watch before they move and usually know more than they say.

Born in January or February 2025?

Anyone born from 1 January to 28 January 2025 belongs to the Wood Dragon year of 2024. From 29 January 2025 the Wood Snake year begins.

How the dates are worked out

Each Chinese New Year here is worked out from the sky, not copied from a list. A lunar month starts on the day of a New Moon in China Standard Time (UTC+8, or Beijing local time before 1929). The month holding the December solstice is the 11th month. When 13 New Moons fall between two of those months, the first month with no principal solar term (the Sun reaching a multiple of 30 degrees) is a leap month. New Year is the first day of the 1st month, which is why it moves between 21 January and 20 February. New Moons and solar terms follow Jean Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms. The rules follow the Chinese calendar.

2024: Wood Dragon · 2026: Fire Horse · All Snake years · All 12 animals