Year of the Snake: Snake Zodiac Years, Dates, Traits and Compatibility

The Year of the Snake is one of the twelve animal years in the Chinese zodiac cycle, and the Snake is sign number 6 in that sequence. People born in a Snake year are traditionally described as thoughtful, perceptive and composed. Sometimes called the "little dragon" (小龙), the Snake is linked with wisdom, intuition and a calm, observant nature. This guide lists every Snake year we have verified dates for, explains why the zodiac year starts at Chinese New Year, and covers Snake traits, compatibility and Tai Sui for 2026 and 2027.

Year of the Snake: exact start and end dates

A Snake year begins on Chinese New Year, not on January 1. The table below lists each Snake year with its start and end dates from the Hong Kong Observatory's Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Table. The end date is the last day of that Snake year, and the next animal begins the day after.

Zodiac year	Starts	Ends
1929	Feb 10, 1929	Jan 29, 1930
1941	Jan 27, 1941	Feb 14, 1942
1953	Feb 14, 1953	Feb 2, 1954
1965	Feb 2, 1965	Jan 20, 1966
1977	Feb 18, 1977	Feb 6, 1978
1989	Feb 6, 1989	Jan 26, 1990
2001	Jan 24, 2001	Feb 11, 2002
2013	Feb 10, 2013	Jan 30, 2014
2025	Jan 29, 2025	Feb 16, 2026

The table only includes years where we have confirmed boundary dates, so it is not a complete list of every Snake year.

Three worked examples

A January birthday. Someone born on January 26, 1990 falls inside the 1989 Snake year, which ends that day. Their sign is Snake, even though the calendar year has already changed.
A birthday on the first day. The 2013 Year of the Snake began on February 10, 2013. Anyone born on that date is a Snake.
A February birthday near the boundary. The 1953 Snake year ended on February 2, 1954. A person born on February 2, 1954 is therefore a 1953 Snake, while someone born on February 14, 1953 (the first day of that year) is also a Snake. Both fall in the same zodiac year.

How Chinese New Year sets the zodiac year

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar. Its months follow the moon, and each month is 29 or 30 days long. Because the lunar year is shorter than the solar year, Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that intercalary months are added from time to time to keep the calendar in step with the seasons. The new year festival is tied to this calendar. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica's entry on Chinese New Year, the festival lasts 15 days and begins with the new moon that falls between January 21 and February 20. The zodiac year changes on that day, which is why a birthday in January or early February needs checking.

The twelve branches and the 60-year cycle

The twelve zodiac animals are also the twelve Earthly Branches (dizhi). The Smith College Museum of Art explains that the branches are combined with ten Heavenly Stems to name days, months and years. Together they form a 60-year cycle, a pattern the Victoria and Albert Museum describes as the way years were counted before 1912. The Snake year repeats every twelve years within that larger cycle.

Snake personality in Chinese tradition

Traditional descriptions of the Snake focus on being thoughtful, perceptive and composed. The Snake is linked to the branch Si (巳), which corresponds to the hours of 9 to 11 am. These are cultural associations passed down through folk tradition. They are not scientific findings, and a full Four Pillars (Bazi) chart uses far more than the year animal.

The V&A notes that the idea of assigning fixed personality traits to each sign is fairly recent, and that older Chinese texts do not describe it in this way. Treat the Snake's traits as one lens among many, not as a description of any individual.

Year of the Snake and birth-year research

Some people wonder whether zodiac years affect how many babies are born. Research so far gives a mixed picture. A 2002 study of Hong Kong by Yip, Lee and Cheung, published in Social Science & Medicine, found that births rose 7.8% in 1988 and 4.2% in 2000 compared with the preceding year, in Dragon years. The authors described this as a timing effect with little influence on total fertility. A 2010 study by Ma Yan, in Population Research, found no zodiac birth preference at the national level in mainland China from 1949 to 2008.

These studies focus on other zodiac years and on zodiac effects in general, so they do not say anything specific about Snake births.

Snake compatibility

In the folk tradition, compatibility is described through pairings of animals. For the Snake, the traditional relationships are:

Relationship	Partner sign(s)
Six Harmonies (secret friend)	Monkey
Three Harmonies (allies)	Ox and Rooster
Clash (opposite sign)	Pig

Compatibility in this tradition describes patterns, not scores. A Snake person can be on good terms with any sign, and the table is simply a cultural reference. For every pairing, including harm, break and punishment tags, see the compatibility tool.

Tai Sui and the Snake in 2026 and 2027

In Chinese folk belief, the Tai Sui is a deity linked to each year. The Kew Ong Yah Temple in Singapore explains that sixty Tai Sui gods take turns by year within the sixty-year Jiazi cycle, and that a person's birth-year god is traditionally consulted. Background on the figure is also in the Wikipedia article on Tai Sui.

Year	Animal	Snake and Tai Sui
2026	Horse	No traditional Tai Sui relationship
2027	Goat	No traditional Tai Sui relationship

These results follow the folk year-sign rule used by our Tai Sui checker. Meeting Tai Sui is a traditional reminder to be steady and considerate, not a forecast.

How to check your Snake year

Start with your birth date and compare it with the boundary dates in the table above. If you were born in January or early February, the Chinese New Year date for that year decides your sign. If your date is not in the table, or you want a quick answer, use the zodiac finder to match your birthday to the right animal.

For more on the Snake, you might enjoy the Snake horoscope for today, this week and this year, the Snake in the 2027 Year of the Goat, or this explainer on how Chinese New Year decides your sign.

Frequently asked questions

When does the Year of the Snake start?

The Snake year starts on Chinese New Year, not on January 1. The start dates depend on the lunar calendar, so they change from year to year. For example, the 2013 Year of the Snake began on February 10, 2013, and the 2025 Year of the Snake began on January 29, 2025. The Hong Kong Observatory conversion tables give the exact dates for each year.

Is someone born in January a Snake if the Year of the Snake had not started yet?

It depends on the date. Anyone born before Chinese New Year belongs to the previous zodiac animal's year. A person born on January 26, 1990 is a Snake, because the 1989 Year of the Snake ran until that date. Always compare the birth date with the start and end dates for the relevant year before deciding.

What are the traditional traits of someone born in the Year of the Snake?

Chinese tradition describes Snake people as thoughtful, perceptive and composed, and sometimes calls the Snake the little dragon. These are cultural associations rather than scientific findings. They are passed down through folk belief. A full Four Pillars chart considers much more than the year animal, so the traits are best read as a general tradition, not a personal description.

Which signs are traditionally compatible with the Year of the Snake?

In the traditional system, the Snake's Six Harmonies partner is the Monkey, and its Three Harmonies allies are the Ox and the Rooster. The opposite sign, which traditionally clashes with the Snake, is the Pig. These pairings describe patterns in folk belief and are not scores. The compatibility tool on this site lists every pairing, including harm and punishment tags.

Does the Year of the Snake have a Tai Sui in 2026 or 2027?

According to the folk year-sign rule used by our Tai Sui checker, the Snake has no traditional Tai Sui relationship in 2026, the Year of the Horse, or in 2027, the Year of the Goat. Tai Sui is a deity linked to each year. Meeting Tai Sui is traditionally a reminder to be steady and considerate, and is not a forecast of any kind.

Do zodiac years affect birth numbers?

Research gives a mixed picture. A 2002 Hong Kong study by Yip, Lee and Cheung found that births rose 7.8% in 1988 and 4.2% in 2000 over the preceding year, in Dragon years, a timing effect with little influence on total fertility. A 2010 study of mainland China from 1949 to 2008 found no zodiac birth preference at the national level. Neither study focuses on the Snake.