What zodiac sign is December 16?

December 16 is Sagittarius

Exact sign finder

December 16 at a glance

Rulers: Ptolemy; modern list.⁶

The decan: late Sagittarius

Faces after Lilly, in Chaldean order.³

What a decan is

December 16 by the numbers

Digit sums as numerology guides give them.⁴

Where the date falls in the season

Seasons by the noon-UTC rule; rulers after Ptolemy.²

• Sagittarius reference
• Sagittarius compatibility

Born at this point in Sagittarius season

This person was born in the final stretch of the Sagittarius season, when the sun is close to leaving the sign and the year is nearly over. Their birthday arrives while holiday plans pile up and a wish to explore runs into a stack of unfinished work. Living this close to the turn can leave them wanting to start something new before the current thing is done. They can name that impulse, and the work to be done is to finish one thing well before reaching for the next.

Interpretation, not prediction.

The sidereal sign

Ayanamsa convention.⁵

Tropical and sidereal, explained

Born on December 16

• Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536), first wife of Henry VIII of England
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), German composer
• Jane Austen (1775–1817), author, novelist, writer
• Leopold I of Belgium (1790–1865), German prince who became the first King of the Belgians
• George Santayana (1863–1952), Spanish-American philosopher
• Margaret Mead (1901–1978), American anthropologist
• Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008), British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist
• Philip K. Dick (1928–1982), American science fiction author

Birth dates checked on Wikidata.⁷

December 16 in history

Observed on this date:

• Day of Reconciliation, formerly celebrated as Day of the Vow by the Afrikaners (South Africa)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Kazakhstan from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• National Day, celebrates the withdrawal of United Kingdom from Bahrain, making Bahrain an independent emirate in 1971.
• International Day of the Belt and Road Initiative
• National Sports Day (Thailand)
• The first day of Las Posadas (Mexico, Latin America)
• The first day of the Simbang Gabi novena of masses (Philippines)
• Victory Day observances, celebration of the Indo-Bangla allied victory over Pakistan armed forces and the Liberation of Bangladesh. (Bangladesh and India)

Events on December 16:

• 533: The Digest, the great collection of all Roman jurists' law, is issued together with a new official law textbook for legal schools, The Institutes.
• 1707: The most recent eruption of Mount Fuji.
• 1850: The Charlotte Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton, New Zealand.
• 1905: In rugby union, the "Match of the Century" is played between Wales and New Zealand at Cardiff Arms Park.
• 1997: Dennō Senshi Porygon: Over 600 kids in Japan suffer photosensitive epileptic seizures after watching an episode of the Pokémon anime.

How the answer was worked out

Each year's sign was read from the Sun's tropical longitude on December 16, which Astronomy Engine calculated at noon UTC for each year from 1930 through 2030.¹ How the Machine works

Questions people also ask

What zodiac sign is December 16?

The Sun at noon UTC places December 16 in Sagittarius across all 101 sampled years from 1930 to 2030.

Is December 16 on a zodiac cusp?

No. In every December 16 from 1930 to 2030, the noon Sun fell within Sagittarius, and December 16 is at least 4 days from the nearest change of sign.

What decan is December 16?

Because December 16 is in the third decan of Sagittarius (20°–30°) in every sampled year, its face ruler in the Chaldean order is Saturn.

What is the birthday number for December 16?

Modern numerology assigns December 16 a day number of 7 and a month-day number of 1, both obtained by adding digits.