Is March 20 Pisces or Aries?
March 20 is the first day of Aries in most years now. In Universal Time the Sun has reached 0° Aries on the 20th every year since 2008. The 21st takes that role in only 35 of the 100 years from 1930 to 2029, the last of them in 2007. New York shows the same pattern, with the 20th in 79 of those years and the 19th in three leap years, 2020, 2024 and 2028.
Your time zone can change the date as well. In 2026 the equinox came at 2:46 PM UTC on March 20, which was 10:46 AM in New York but 1:46 AM on the 21st in Sydney. For Sydney, the 21st was the start in 76 of the 100 years, but since 2004 it has alternated with the 20th in pairs of years. The year grid on this page follows the clock of your device, and choosing your birth year gives the minute the Sun crossed over.
The day Aries began, 1930 to 2029
Dates in Universal Time (UTC)
- Mar 20, 65 years
- Mar 21, 35 years
Late Pisces, under Jupiter and then Mars
March Pisces are born in the second and third decans of the sign, its last 20 degrees, apart from the first hours of the 1st in some years in Australia and New Zealand. From March 1 to about the 10th the Golden Dawn gives the decan to Jupiter, which also rules Pisces by tradition, and pairs it with the Nine of Cups, the card of contentment. The whole sign is mutable water, read in tradition as quick to take on the mood of a room and slow to hold a grudge.
Mars takes over from the 11th to about the 19th, with the Ten of Cups, Lord of Perfected Success. Astrologers read these late Pisces as the dreamers who finish things and will argue for what they feel. Their major arcana card is The Moon, and Pisces compatibility shows how the Fish gets on with each of the other signs.
Aries from the equinox, the purest Mars stretch of the year
Aries runs from the equinox to about April 19, and most March Aries fall in its first decan, from the 20th to about the 29th. Mars rules that decan and the whole sign, so the tradition treats it as Aries at full strength. Its card is the Two of Wands, Lord of Dominion, a figure on a castle wall holding a globe and choosing where to go next.
The Sun’s decan begins during the 30th in recent years, or the 31st in many older ones, so the month’s last birthdays can open it with the Three of Wands. Aries is cardinal fire, which tradition reads as the sign that starts things, says what it wants and moves before the plan is finished. How Aries pairs with the other signs depends a lot on whether the partner can keep that pace.
Why the zodiac year starts in March
The zodiac year starts in March because Aries, the first sign, begins at the March equinox, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading north. Day and night are close to equal across the whole planet that day. Astronomical spring begins in the north and astronomical autumn in Australia and New Zealand, which count autumn from March 1. The signs keep the same dates on both sides of the equator.
Mars holds both sides of the switch. The Golden Dawn hands out its 36 decans in the old Chaldean order of seven planets. Since 36 is one more than a multiple of seven, the cycle closes on the same planet it opened with. The last decan of Pisces and the first decan of Aries both go to Mars, so the Ten of Cups ends the zodiac and the Two of Wands begins it again.
Famous March birthdays
- Dr. SeussMar 2, 1904, PiscesChildren’s author, The Cat in the Hat
- Albert EinsteinMar 14, 1879, PiscesPhysicist, theory of relativity
- Aretha FranklinMar 25, 1942, AriesSinger, the Queen of Soul
- Vincent van GoghMar 30, 1853, AriesPainter, The Starry Night
Questions people ask
What zodiac sign is March 21?
March 21 is Aries for everyone born in the 50 US states or Canada since 1988, because the Sun has entered Aries there on March 19 or 20 every year since. In Australia and New Zealand the switch has fallen on the 21st in about half the years since 2004, so a birth time often decides the sign there.
What element is a March birthday?
A March birthday is water or fire. Pisces, from March 1 to about the 19th, is a water sign, and Aries, from the 20th or 21st, is a fire sign. In astrology water stands for feeling and intuition and fire for drive and action, so the tradition reads the two halves of March very differently.
What is the birthstone for March?
Aquamarine is the main birthstone for March, with bloodstone as the second stone on the American Gem Society list. Birthstones belong to the calendar month rather than the zodiac sign, so a Pisces and an Aries born this month share them. The month’s birth flowers are the daffodil and the jonquil.
Is March 20 always the first day of spring?
Not always. Northern spring begins at the equinox, which in Universal Time has fallen on the 20th every year since 2008 but often on the 21st before that. In North American time zones it sometimes lands on the evening of the 19th, as it did in 2020 and 2024. The same moment starts Aries.