December 22 Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius or Capricorn?
The short answer
People born on December 22 can be Sagittarius or Capricorn: the Sun changed sign during this date in 40 of the 76 years from 1950 to 2025, sitting between 29.3° Sagittarius and 1.6° Capricorn.
December 22 at a glance
| Zodiac sign | Sagittarius or Capricorn (conventional tables say Capricorn, December 22 to January 19) |
|---|---|
| Sun position, 1950 to 2025 | 29.3° Sagittarius to 1.6° Capricorn (usually 0.4° Capricorn at noon UTC) |
| Decan | third decan of Sagittarius: Leo (triplicity), Saturn (Chaldean), Ten of Wands (Golden Dawn); first decan of Capricorn: Capricorn (triplicity), Jupiter (Chaldean), Two of Pentacles (Golden Dawn) |
| Element | Fire (Sagittarius) or Earth (Capricorn) |
| Modality | Mutable (Sagittarius) or Cardinal (Capricorn) |
| Ruling planet | Jupiter (Sagittarius) or Saturn (Capricorn) |
| Nearest sign change | On this date in 40 of the 76 years |
What a December 22 birthday means
On December 22 the Sun sits between 29.3° Sagittarius and 1.6° Capricorn in every year from 1950 to 2025, counting every hour of the day in UTC. Its usual noon position is 0.4° Capricorn.
That places December 22 in the third decan of Sagittarius. The modern triplicity system gives this decan to Leo, the older Chaldean order gives it to Saturn, and the Golden Dawn tradition pairs it with the Ten of Wands. In some years the Sun moves on into the first decan of Capricorn during this date, so both apply.
Sagittarius is a fire sign of the mutable modality, ruled by Jupiter. Capricorn is an earth sign of the cardinal modality, ruled by Saturn.
December 22 is a cusp date. The Sun changed sign during this date in 40 of the 76 years charted, so someone born on December 22 can be Sagittarius or Capricorn; the birth year and time decide it.
When the Sun changes sign around December 22
Across 1950 to 2025, the Sun entered Capricorn on these dates (UTC):
- December 21: 36 years
- December 22: 40 years
If you were born near the change, your birth year and time decide your sign: cast your free birth chart to see it.
Where these figures come from
The Sun's position was charted at 12:00 UTC on every day from 1950 to 2025, and the start and end of each date were placed on the straight line between neighbouring days, which is exact to a small fraction of a degree. The range covers every hour of December 22 in UTC across all 76 years; someone born far from UTC can sit up to about half a degree beyond it. Decans follow two traditional systems: the triplicity system, which gives each third of a sign to the three signs of its element in turn, and the older Chaldean order of faces, which runs through the seven classical planets from Mars at the start of Aries.
Other birthdays
December: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Born on December 22? Vera reads the whole chart, not just the Sun.
Your Sun sign is one line of your chart. Vera casts the rest from your birth time and place, then answers what you actually want to know.