March holds the end of the zodiac and its beginning. Birthdays from 1 to 20 March are Pisces, the twelfth sign, and birthdays from 21 to 31 March are Aries, the first. The moment between them is the March equinox, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator and the astrological year starts again. No other month contains so complete a change of character.

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The moment the Sun enters Aries, for each birth year

Universal Time (UTC). Add or subtract the time zone of the birthplace.

The decans of March

Pisces Through the 20th, Aries from the 21st

Pisces is mutable water, receptive, compassionate and private, with Jupiter and Neptune as its planets. Aries is cardinal fire under Mars: direct, energetic and impatient to begin. One sign dissolves edges and the other draws them. Astrologers treat the passage from Pisces to Aries as the turn of the whole wheel, the point where an old cycle is let go and a new one is started without looking back, and people born on either side of it tend to recognise that description of themselves.

The Equinox Sets the Boundary

The first degree of Aries is defined by the equinox, so the changeover is an astronomical event with a precise time. It comes earlier than many printed tables suggest. From 1940 to 2040 the Sun entered Aries on 20 March in 74 years and on 21 March in 27, in Universal Time, and in this century the 20th is the rule. A birthday on 20 March can be Pisces in the morning and Aries by evening. The year-by-year table gives the minute, and the birthplace's time zone has to be applied to it.

March Pisces and March Aries

Those born in the first three weeks are the Pisceans of late winter: adaptable, kind, creative, often underestimated because they do not push. Astrology credits them with seeing what others miss and with needing a refuge from too much noise. The last ten days produce a different temperament. March Aries people are described as quick to decide, competitive, warm and plain-spoken, better at starting than at finishing. Put together, the month runs from the most yielding sign to the most assertive one.

March in the Calendar and the Sky

March is named for Mars, the god of war and also the planet that rules Aries, and it was the first month of the earliest Roman calendar. The equinox makes day and night nearly equal everywhere on Earth; in the north it is the start of spring and in the south the start of autumn. The birthstone is the aquamarine, with bloodstone as the older alternative, and the flower is the daffodil. Clocks in much of Europe and North America go forward during the month.

Frequently asked

What zodiac sign is March?

Pisces from 1 to 20 March and Aries from 21 to 31 March.

Is 20 March Pisces or Aries?

Often Aries. The Sun entered Aries on 20 March in 74 of the 101 years from 1940 to 2040, so many people born that day are Aries, depending on the hour and the time zone.

What is the March birthstone?

The aquamarine; bloodstone is the traditional alternative. The birth flower is the daffodil.

March birthdays, day by day

The two signs

Zodiac signs, month by month