What Chinese Zodiac Is 1977? Year of the Fire Snake

When the 1977 Fire Snake year starts and ends

The 1977 Fire Snake year began at Lunar New Year on February 18, 1977 and lasted until February 6, 1978, the day before the next new year. Anyone born between January 1 and Feb 18 1977 therefore belongs to the Fire Dragon year that started in 1976, while someone born in early 1978, up to Feb 6, is still a Fire Snake. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, which is why the start date moves between January 21 and February 20 instead of staying on January 1. The same Fire Snake combination also falls in 2037, sixty years apart, because five elements and twelve animals realign only once in each sixty-year cycle. Lunar New Year 1977 fell on a Friday, while the Western Sun was in Aquarius.

Fire Snake personality

Magnetic, ambitious and intense, the Fire Snake carries a commanding presence. The Snake's fixed element is Fire, so this year doubles it, and tradition describes insight and determination at full heat. People born now can be powerfully persuasive. Suspicion and jealousy are the usual cautions, eased by assuming good faith in ambiguous situations. Their loyalty to chosen friends runs very deep.

Fire is the element of summer and full daylight, and a Fire year is traditionally said to turn up the volume of whatever animal it meets. Descriptions link it with passion, charisma, courage and a love of movement and expression. Fire-year people are often portrayed as lively, persuasive and quick to act, able to warm a room and rally others behind an idea. The element is associated with the heart and with joy, which gives it real generosity of spirit. Its traditional shadow is impatience: Fire can burn hot and fast, leading to restlessness, sharp words in the moment and a tendency to lose interest once the excitement fades.

1977 in numerology and the twelve-year cycle

In numerology the year's digits come to 6, linked with home, care and responsibility, so a 6 year is read as one centred on family and commitments. The digits of 1977 add up to 24, which reduces to 6. In the twelve-year cycle the Snake is the sixth animal, earthly branch Si, with Fire as its fixed element and Yin polarity. The year element is Fire, and in the five-element cycles fire year element matches the fixed element. The year before was the Fire Dragon and the year after is the Earth Horse.

In the traditional sexagenary count the year is called Ding-Si: Ding is the Fire heavenly stem and Si is the Snake's earthly branch. Stems and branches alternate between yang and yin together, which is why yin stems only ever meet yin animals.