1965 Chinese zodiac sign: Wood Snake

Chinese year 1965 begins on Tuesday, February 2, 1965, and ends on Thursday, January 20, 1966, the day before the Year of the Fire Horse begins. It has 353 days, or 12 lunar months: each month starts on a new moon, so it is 29 or 30 days long. The next leap year, with a thirteenth month, comes in 1966.

The year opens with the new moon on Monday, February 1, 1965 at 11:36 a.m. ET. In Beijing it is already February 2, 12:36 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on February 2.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Tuesday, February 16, 1965. The year's first full moon falls on Monday, February 15, 1965 at 7:27 p.m. ET.

It is year 42 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 乙巳 (yǐsì): the heavenly stem 乙 gives the element and the earthly branch 巳 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1965 begins not at the lunar New Year but at the moment of lìchūn (立春, “start of spring”), when the Sun reaches 315° of ecliptic longitude: on Wednesday, February 3, 1965 at 7:46 p.m. Eastern Time. That is one day after Chinese New Year, so anyone born between February 2 and that moment already has the Wood Snake sign in the lunar calendar but still the Wood Dragon sign in Ba Zi.

This page and the calculator give your sign by the lunar calendar.

The Snake is the sign of wisdom and intuition. It observes quietly, analyzes and acts only once it understands the situation well, and then it is rarely wrong.

Growth, curiosity and cooperation. Wood brings a gardener's patience: it builds slowly, with an eye on what will grow in the years ahead.

The Wood element covers two years in a row, 1964 (yang) and 1965 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1954–1955, next in 1974–1975.

The Wood Snake combines the Snake's wisdom with the warmth of Wood. It is more open and sociable than other Snakes, has an artistic sensibility and gets along well with people. It thinks long term and loves to grow, often learning something new all its life. It needs recognition, though, and when it doesn't get it, jealousy stirs.

In 2026, people born in 1965 turn 61 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Snake. People born in 1965 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2037, when they turn 72 years old.

The Snake comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1965, the Wood Snake, returns every 60 years: in 1905, 1965 and 2025.