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2027 Samjae Zodiac Animals
— Who, and From When to When

Seasonal · 2026.08.22 · 5 min read · Updated 2026.10.02

2027 Samjae: Pig, Rabbit and Sheep

2027 is the Jeongmi (丁未) year, a Year of the Sheep. The zodiac animals in Samjae (三災, a traditional three-year caution period) this year are Pig, Rabbit and Sheep.

If you're a Pig, Rabbit or Sheep, 2027 is the last of the 3 years. Leaving Samjae is commonly seen as the lightest of the three.

How Samjae is determined

There's a rule. The twelve zodiac animals are grouped into three groups of four, and each group has a set 3 years of Samjae.

As you can see, it's 3 years in every 12. In other words, everyone spends a quarter of their life in Samjae. It isn't something that only happens to especially unlucky people.

Entering, staying and leaving Samjae

Entering Samjae

The first year. As the year it comes in, change can feel big. It's seen as the year to be most careful of the three. This is the year when people say to hold off a beat on launching anything big and new.

Staying Samjae

The second year. The year it stays. It's thought to show up less as big upheaval and more as a feeling of being stuck. It's closer to a year of holding steady.

Leaving Samjae

The third year. The year it leaves. It's seen as a good time for tidying up and wrapping things up. Pig, Rabbit and Sheep in 2027 are here.

※ We write it as 'nul-samjae', but depending on the region and source it's also called 'nuul-samjae' or 'muk-samjae'.

How to approach Samjae

We'll be honest. Samjae isn't a way of reading your whole Saju. It's judged from just your zodiac animal — that is, one character out of eight.

In any given year, over 4 million people in Korea alone share the same zodiac animal. It's a stretch to think the same bad 3 years come to all of them alike.

So why has it lasted so long? We think it's because it makes you aware of cycles. It's a device that, once every 12 years, signals “now is a time for tidying up rather than starting new things.” After all, people's lives really do alternate between periods of expansion and periods of consolidation.

Useful ways to use it

• As a prompt to review big decisions one more time — not “don't do it because it's Samjae,” but a nudge to take another look before you do.
• As a frame that eases self-blame when things haven't worked out — “it's that kind of time right now” helps you recover faster than “I wasn't good enough.”
• As a time that gives you a reason to tidy up and wrap things up — especially in the leaving-Samjae year.

Ways that will cost you

• Putting decisions off for 3 years — that's a quarter of your life. Put things off and that much of it is lost.
• Blaming Samjae every time something bad happens — it stops you seeing the real cause.
• Places that sell you something because of Samjae — talismans, gut (shamanic rituals) or anything else, be wary of anything that uses fear to get you to open your wallet.

If you want a more precise view than your zodiac animal

If Samjae is judged from one of your eight characters, what about the other seven? What a year actually holds for you is read from the relationship between the annual luck (the year's stem-branch pair) and your Day Master — and from where you are in your 10-year luck cycle.

Even in the same Samjae year, someone whose 10-year luck cycle supports them and someone whose doesn't are in completely different places. Check your birth chart and 10-year luck cycles in Mutal Unnie, and you can read the year from all eight characters, not just your zodiac animal.