by The Tibetan calendar, according to the Astrology of the Elements
Tibetan New Year (Losar): 18 February 2026 – Year of the Fire Horse.
The Tibetan calendar has three different orientations: the official calendar, which follows the Tibetan and Mongolian tradition; a version used for astrological purposes related to constellations; and another specifically for the astrology of the elements.
In the official calendar, the first month of the year is the Dragon month, which approximately corresponds to April in the Western calendar. 1 Both the astrology of the constellations and the Kalachakra tradition 2 recognise the month of the Dragon as the first month, but they mark the New Year at the beginning of the third month, which is the month of the Horse.
In contrast, the astrology of the elements identifies the first month as the month of the Tiger, aligning it with February. To maintain the official order of the calendar, the month of the Tiger is numbered as the eleventh month. However, for calculation purposes, it is treated as the first month of the year, while the month of the Dragon, which is third in order, is counted as the first month.
The months
The months are linked to the cycle of the twelve animals, with each month having a specific name derived from the dominant constellation (see Table 1). Similar to the years, the months are categorised by gender—masculine or feminine—depending on whether they are even or odd.
The first month is the child of the annual element. For the year 2026 (Fire Horse), the first month will be Earth Horse. Since each element dominates twice, once for each gender, the second month will be Earth Sheep. The months follow one another according to the relationships among the elements, so the third month is Metal Monkey, the fourth month is Metal Bird, the fifth is Water Dog, and so on.
In the Tibetan calendar, each month consists of a defined lunar cycle lasting 30 days. The 15th day marks the full moon, while the 30th day signifies the new moon. Each day is counted from dawn. A synodic month, which is the time between two consecutive new moons, averages approximately 29.5306 days. Additionally, due to a daily sidereal time deviation of about 4 minutes, the alignment between days and the calendar misaligns over time. To address this issue, Tibetan astrologers incorporate “null” or double days into the monthly count.
| Month | Animal | Constellation | Gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | TIGER | Gò (mgo) | M |
| 12 | HARE | Gyál (rgyal) | F |
| 1 | DRAGON | Qù (mchu) | M |
| 2 | SNAKE | Wó (dbo) | F |
| 3 | HORSE | Nagba (nag-pa) | M |
| 4 | SHEEP | Saga (sa-ga) | F |
| 5 | MONKEY | Nòn (snron) | M |
| 6 | BIRD | Qudod (chu-stod) | F |
| 7 | DOG | Droxín (dro-bzhin) | M |
| 8 | BOAR | Trumdod (khrums-stod) | F |
| 9 | RAT | Yúgu (dbyu-gu) | M |
| 10 | OX | Mindrug (smin-drug) | F |
The days
Within astrology of the elements, there are two methods to assign the cycle of the twelve animals to the days of the month.
The first system, originating from Tibetan culture, assigns the Tiger and the number 1 to the first day of every odd month (masculine), while the Monkey and the number 7 correspond to the first day of every even month (feminine). In this system, the element of the first day is determined by the element associated with the month. Subsequent days follow the son’s order, but days are not paired as they are in the year and month calculations.
When “null” days occur, numbering is skipped. For example, if the first day of the first month is a Metal Tiger and the second day is empty, the third day will be a Wood Dragon instead of a Water Hare, which is cancelled out. Similarly, in the case of “double” days, the animal-element calculation is not repeated. For instance, if we have a Wood Horse on day 13a, then day 13b will also be a Wood Horse.
The second system, which originates from China, describes a sequence of animal-element associations that progresses regularly according to the calendar days. This system does not account for null or double days, and each first day of the month has a specific animal-element pairing. Each pairing follows the order of the previous one and serves as the foundation for the next. Additionally, unlike the last method, each element governs for two consecutive days. The starting point for establishing the sequence of animals is the first day of spring, which corresponds to the Tiger. To determine this starting day, one must use the annual calendar calculated according to the methods of Garzì astrology.
The hours
A day is divided into twelve periods, each lasting two hours, and is counted from dawn. The first time slot is associated with the Hare, and the subsequent time slots follow the order of the animal cycle (pdf here). The element of the first time slot (Hare) is considered the child of the element of the day; the following elements are assigned according to the usual order of filiation without repetition.
- It is not possible to determine a single date marking the beginning of the year in both the Western and Tibetan calendars. The Tibetan year begins with the first new moon in the sign of Aquarius, which occurs during the season recognised as the start of spring. ↩︎
- Kalachakra (དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།, dus kyi ‘khor lo) is a term from Vajrayāna Buddhism that translates to “wheel of time.” The Kalachakra tradition originated in India and has transmitted teachings related to cosmology, medicine, yoga, and more. ↩︎
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