Happy Year of the Fire Horse! Baby Girls Born This Year Are Destined to Defy Societal Norms & Ruin Men

Of the 12 signs in the Chinese Zodiac, few possess an aura as menacing as the snake, and unfortunately for all of us, the last 12 months very much lived up to the Year of the Snake’s reputation for being the Year of the Scaly Shitshow. So thank all the lunisolar gods that last year is finally over, as I’m not sure how much more I can bear to shed. That being said…

Happy Lunar New Year!

For the first time in decades, we’re in the Year of the Fire Horse, and per a centuries-old legend, girls born in the Year of the Fire Horse (every 60 years) are considered independent, powerful, and a recurring problem for mediocre men—or traits that have long been translated as bad attitudes, and bad luck for marriages and families. But really, these girls will just be norm-defying leaders who are unafraid to speak up for themselves, go after what they want, or, sure, destroy a man’s life. Which means the current incoming roster of White House babies, should they all be girls, will—lunisolar gods willing—have tradwives quaking in their Keds and spineless, pathetic men running for the hills.

Roughly a quarter of the world today is celebrating the start of 2026, or the Lunar New Year, which typically follows a calendar in which the months rely on moon cycles and years are regulated by the sun’s position. Tuesday, Feb. 17, specifically marks 2026’s first moon, and launches us into the latest rotation in a 12-year cycle, represented by 12 animals. (The order goes: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.) Each cycle is attributed to one of five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. 

Generally, Lunar New Year is a superstitious holiday across many Asian countries, with various cultures putting their own spins on the must and must-not dos of the day, lest they fuck up the next 365. In Chinese culture, you mustn’t wash your hair (if you do, you could scrub away all your good luck); in Vietnamese culture, you shan’t clean your house (if you do, you could “sweep” away your good fortunes); and in Korean culture, you should steer clear of using scissors (in case you accidentally cut your luck short). The superstition that surrounds the Year of the Fire Horse, however, is year-round.

It’s uncertain where exactly this belief originates, but some rabbit holes lead to the tale of Yaoya Oshichi, a teenage girl in Japanese legend who had a destined-to-fail relationship with an aspiring monk after a fire forced her family to temporarily shelter in a temple. A year later, she set fire to her home, believing her family would return to the temple. But arson was punishable by death and the 16-year-old was burned at the stake for her crimes. (There’s a memorial dedicated to her in Tokyo.) According to legend, she was born in 1666—or yes, a Year of the Fire Horse.

Naturally, the lesson became: beware the girl, not the society that burned her.

Centuries later, in 1966—our last Fire Horse year—the superstition caused birth rates in Japan to drop by 24%. Socialist Koya Azumi wrote in 1968 that abortion rates even rose sharply in the second half of 1965, as couples were worried about possibly having a child who would bring bad luck (née call everyone out on their shit) to the family.

But 1966 also gave us Halle Berry, Salma Hayek, and Cynthia Nixon—a lineup that reads less like “bad luck for husbands” and more like long-overdue reckonings for bad men. Berry, who’s spent the better part of her year standing up to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Ca.), was born that August; Salma Hayek, who deepened Harvey Weinstein’s downfall in 2018, in September; and Cynthia Nixon—longtime hater of ICE and Andrew Cuomo—was born in April.

Suddenly, I have a good feeling about the future. May all the birth announcements of baby girls this year be loud, and their lives even louder. 

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