What Chinese Zodiac Is 1978? Year of the Earth Horse

When the 1978 Earth Horse year starts and ends

The 1978 Earth Horse year began at Lunar New Year on February 7, 1978 and lasted until January 27, 1979, the day before the next new year. Anyone born between January 1 and Feb 7 1978 therefore belongs to the Fire Snake year that started in 1977, while someone born in early 1979, up to Jan 27, is still a Earth Horse. 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 Earth Horse combination also falls in 2038, sixty years apart, because five elements and twelve animals realign only once in each sixty-year cycle. Lunar New Year 1978 fell on a Tuesday, while the Western Sun was in Aquarius.

Earth Horse personality

Sensible, cheerful and hardworking, the Earth Horse is the steadiest of its sign. The Horse's Fire feeds Earth, which tradition reads as restless energy drawn down into practical goals. People born in this year often build homes, businesses and skills with good judgement. Feeling torn between adventure and duty is their usual tension. Their good humour makes hard work feel lighter for everyone.

Earth sits at the centre of the five-element wheel, and an Earth year is traditionally said to give any animal steadiness, patience and a practical turn of mind. Descriptions associate it with reliability, honesty and a talent for holding things together, whether that means a family, a budget or a team in a difficult season. Earth-year people are often portrayed as grounded, fair and good at turning ideas into workable plans. The element is linked with nourishment and care, so it carries a quiet generosity. Its shadow, in most readings, is heaviness: worry, stubbornness and a reluctance to move until every risk has been weighed twice.

1978 in numerology and the twelve-year cycle

In numerology the year reduces to 7, the number of reflection, analysis and inner work, giving a 7 year a quieter, more searching character. The digits of 1978 add up to 25, which reduces to 7. In the twelve-year cycle the Horse is the seventh animal, earthly branch Wu, with Fire as its fixed element and Yang polarity. The year element is Earth, and in the five-element cycles fire generates Earth. The year before was the Fire Snake and the year after is the Earth Goat.

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