As New Zealand’s Asian community celebrates Lunar New Year on Tuesday, what can we expect from the Year of the Horse?

The horse is the seventh of the 12 animals in the traditional Chinese zodiac, symbolizing vitality, speed, independence, and free spirit.

Courage, passion and refusal to be restrained are common traits of this horse.

As a result, the Year of the Horse is seen as a year of movement, pursuit, and breakthroughs.

While it favors action over hesitation and momentum over stagnation, it also includes connotations of instability, outward expression, and intensity.

play with fire with me

The year 2026 is known as the “bingwu year”, commonly translated as the year of the fire horse.

In the traditional Chinese five-element system, bing represents the sun, the most yang energy in terms of Yin-Yang theory, and is associated with the color red.

As a result, 2026 is also the year of the Crimson Horse.

The Horse appears every 12 years, but in the traditional Chinese zodiac, the “bingwu fire” Year of the Horse only occurs once every 60 years.

Some Chinese metaphysics suggests that Fire Horse years, combining the dynamism of Fire and the energy of the Horse, tend to be characterized by powerful changes.

Heat and acceleration dominate, but the transition is rapid and can be difficult to mitigate.

This intensity is generally thought to spill over into the following year, making 2027 the Year of the Red Goat.

In popular folklore, this combination is sometimes described as a sequence of “crimson horse, red goat,” a phrase historically associated with cataclysm.

history lesson

Observers interested in history often point to the early Fire Horse and Fire Goat sequences.

The last Fire Horse year was 1966, when China’s Cultural Revolution began in earnest.

The following year, the Year of the Fire Goat, saw widespread armed sectarian fighting and social turmoil in China.

The decade that followed is often referred to as the “Decade of Disaster,” reshaping the lives of countless people and changing the course of modern Chinese history.

In the United States, protests intensified as the civil rights movement gained momentum and anti-war sentiment grew over the country’s involvement in Vietnam.

Going back further, the Jingkang Incident, in which the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng, fell to an invasion of Jurchen troops in 1126-1127, occurred during a series of fires by fire horses and fire goats.

The final collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty led to mass migration, long wars, and profound changes in Chinese civilization.

Modern historians do not attribute such events to the zodiacal cycle.

However, from a structural perspective, periods of intense social tension, intense mobilization, and heightened ideological enthusiasm can escalate rapidly when the conditions are right.

Fire as a metaphor captures this dynamic. It spreads when fed.

Therefore, the Year of the Fire Horse may be seen as more of an atmosphere than a destiny.

It suggests a climate in which contradictions rapidly surface and transitions accelerate.

multiple layers

According to Feng Shui theory, from 2024 we have entered the so-called 9th period, a 20-year cycle dominated by the trigrams associated with fire.

According to this framework, 2026 is not independent.

It sits within a broader era of fiery energy that runs from 2024 to 2043, making the Fiery Horse year part of a longer arc.

In the previous 8th period associated with Earth, sectors such as real estate, construction, mining, and asset-based industries were generally considered to be emblematic of the time.

The 9th period coincides with fire and is traditionally associated with illumination, visibility, and transformation.

Within this symbolic system, industries related to beauty, entertainment, art, design, culture, philosophy, spirituality and advanced technology are considered to be given preferential treatment.

Fire also corresponds to the heart in traditional Chinese medicine.

By extension, fields related to cognition, emotion, and artificial intelligence are often considered to belong to this fire area.

Li Gua is also sometimes associated with women.

Some interpret the increased prominence of women across politics, business, and culture in recent years as resonating with this symbolism.

All in all, 2026 looks like a year of fire on fire, with the next two decades likely to be defined by intense light and surging energy.

It is ultimately a personal decision whether to respond with calm and balance or choose to ride the crest of change.

Famous people of the year of the horse

• Zhang Daoling, early Taoist religious leader (34 AD)
• Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire (1162)
• Warren Buffett, American investor (1930)
• George Soros, Hungarian-American investor (1930)
• Jim Rogers, American Investor (1942)
• Angela Merkel, former German Chancellor (1954)
• Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan (1954)
• David Cameron, former British Prime Minister (1966)
• Jimmy Wales, American Internet Entrepreneur (1966)
• Wang Jianlin, founder of Dalian Wanda Group (1954)

Celebrities born in the Year of the Horse include Bridget Lin (1954), Joey Wong (1967), Song Zuying (1966), Ching Hailu (1978), Jackie Chan (1954), and Leon Lai (1966).

Outlook for 2026

Traditional astrology suggests that the Year of the Fire Horse stimulates spontaneity and change, but also instability and conflict. Patience and good judgment are often advised.

According to folklore, those born in the same zodiac year as this year may face greater difficulties.

Some people take measures such as wearing red underwear, carrying amulets, or making symbolic offerings to alleviate anxiety.

Traditionally, horses are thought to come into conflict with rats, cows, and rabbits, suggesting that there may be some trouble ahead.

On the contrary, it is believed that horses get along well with tigers, dogs, and goats, which can bring them good luck.

However, these generalizations are only one layer of interpretation.

Temperatures that require attention

In the more complex system of Four Pillar Astrology, a person’s destiny is calculated from the year, month, day, and time of their birth.

The zodiac year represents only two of the eight characters in the complete chart.

The balance of the remaining six factors can significantly change a person’s response to the expected heat of a fire a year ahead.

People whose charts are “heat-loving” may thrive in a Fire Horse year, even though their zodiac signs are usually considered to be in opposition.

Conversely, people who are “afraid of heat” may experience instability in the same year, even though they were born in a compatible zodiac sign.

Stripped of metaphysical language, such a framework serves as a reminder that different individuals carry and metabolize strength in different ways.

For some, 2026 may be the time to boldly move forward and start a new business venture.

It may also be wiser to sort out your emotions, slow down, regulate your emotions, and manage your risks.

And for some people, financial discipline, health habits, and relationship boundaries may be more important than bombast.

character of the year

If the atmosphere of 2026 could be expressed in one kanji character, it might be “fire”.

Fire illuminates and destroys. It indicates both danger and rebirth. It drives innovation and burns down old structures.

And this metaphor will still work, regardless of whether the year is ultimately remembered for breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, cultural movements, geopolitical shifts, or new energy industries.

Conventional wisdom holds that the question is not whether there will actually be fires this year, but how we will respond to them.