The 2026 Lunar New Year begins on February 17…and what better way to celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse than with some beautifully blended Harney tea in a limited-edition tin?
Inside some truly lovely red and gold packaging (featuring a couple of fiery horses, natch), our Lunar New Year 2026 Gift offers 30 sachets of a delicious black tea, plus a cube of Island Pineapple Gummies made with real pineapple purée. All in all, it makes a great gift (even if the lucky recipient is yourself).
Since tea drinking originated in China, and nearly half of the world’s tea still comes from there, we take a keen interest in Chinese culture. Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, marks the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. This occasion has influenced similar celebrations (commonly referred to as Lunar New Year) in many other cultures, including our own.
The new year’s start is a time for renewal. As winter turns to spring, families gather for a meal of foods that symbolize prosperity, longevity, good luck, and abundance. Because red is a symbol of joy and good fortune, various red decorations may be placed in homes, and red envelopes filled with crisp new bills are often offered as traditional gifts.
So What’s With The Horse And The Fire?
Each Lunar New Year is associated with one of the Chinese zodiac’s 12 different animals: either the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep/Goat/Ram (it’s complicated), Monkey, Rooster, Dog, or Pig. As 2025 turns into 2026, we’re waving goodbye to the Snake and hello to the Horse…but there’s a little more to it than that.
The Chinese zodiac, you see, also includes five elements: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth. The number the New Year ends on determines what element it gets. Years ending in 0 or 1 get Metal, years ending in 2 or 3 get Water, years ending in 4 or 5 get Wood, years ending in 6 or 7 get Fire, and years ending in 8 or 9 get Earth.
Join the element together with the animal, and you’ve got yourself a memorable name for the year at hand…and while the animal name repeats every 12 years, the element only comes around to join it once every 60 years.
But enough math…here’s an example of how that element-animal rotation plays out with our buddy the horse:
1930: Year of the Metal Horse
1942: Year of the Water Horse
1954: Year of the Wood Horse
1966: Year of the Fire Horse
1978: Year of the Earth Horse
At this point, it’s been 60 years since we started, so the elements start repeating.
1990: Year of the Metal Horse
2002: Year of the Water Horse
2014: Year of the Wood Horse
And now, in 2026, we’re once again getting fire to go with our horse. Which leads us (at last) to the burning, neighing question: What significance does the Year of the Fire Horse hold?
Plenty. Every year’s animal and element have characteristics that supposedly define the personality of that year and anyone born in it.
Fire’s characteristics, for instance, are courage, enthusiasm, and passion. The Horse’s influence shapes a person who is energetic, freedom-loving, and adventurous. So a woman born in the Year of the Fire Horse would presumably have all of those characteristics…like some sort of feisty-eyed, flowing-maned Jennifer Lawrence/Miley Cyrus hybrid.
Oh, and they might also end up killing their husband.
Wait. How Did We Get From Limited-Edition Tea To Murder?
Just hold your fire horses. We can explain everything.
In general, the year of the Fire Horse is thought to be a time of strong, passionate energy, where enthusiastic pursuit of goals can be rewarded by great success.
There’s also a little superstition in Japan that claims girls born in the Year of the Fire Horse will have hot tempers and drive their husbands to an early grave (which could, we suppose, be considered an enthusiastic, successful pursuit of a goal).
Here's how that started. Back in the 17th century, a Japanese woman named Yaoya Oshichi set a building on fire. Somehow, the fact that she was born in 1666 (a Fire Horse year) was thought to be the reason she became an arsonist…and that gave rise to a superstition that any girl born in the Year of the Fire Horse would grow up to be a real handful, and not good marriage material (which presented a serious problem, back when a single woman had virtually no way to support herself economically).
The Year of the Fire Horse only comes around once every 60 years. When 1726 arrived, the birth rate took a nosedive due to the superstition. That pattern continued to repeat every 60 years…even as recently as 1966 (the last Fire Horse year), when the birth rate in Japan dropped sharply from 1965, then returned to previous levels in 1967.
Will that pattern repeat in 2026? Based on the rising popularity of fiery women, we tend to doubt it… but only time and statistics will tell.
Even so, we believe in staying on the safe side. If there are any men reading this whose wives were born in the last Year of the Fire Horse, it couldn’t possibly hurt to keep them happy with a little gift…and if they like tea sachets and gummies, we’re prepared to suggest an ideal (and possibly life-extending) solution.
