For this year’s celebrations, fire horse symbols will be omnipresent, adorning festival decorations, as well as envelopes, cards, and wrapping paper that accompany Lunar New Year gifts.
Here’s what the Year of the Fire Horse signals as Lunar New Year unfolds.
What the Year of the Horse means
The horse is revered in Chinese culture due to its long-standing roles in agriculture, transport, and warfare, says Jonathan H. X. Lee, Asian studies professor at San Francisco State University. However, in the Chinese zodiac, this galloping animal symbolizes strength, grace, endurance, loyalty, freedom, and success. Its strength, Lee explains, represents possibilities for personal growth and success.
According to Lee, this is exemplified by the Chinese idiom: When the horse arrives, success arrives. “The horse’s energy is associated with yang energy, which is active, dynamic, and life-generating, and speaks to ambition and vitality.”
In Chinese astrology, Horse years favor decisive action and independence, while also warning against impulsiveness.