December 22 at a glance
- Zodiac sign
- ♑ Capricorn
- Element and modality
- earth, cardinal
- Ruling planet
- Saturn
- Place in the sign
- Day 1 of Capricorn; Aquarius starts 29 days later on the calendar
- Decan
- 1 of 3, ruled by Capricorn (December 22 to 31)
- Cusp
- Sagittarius to Capricorn
- Birthday number
- 22, a master number
- December birthstone
- Turquoise, also Tanzanite, Zircon, Blue Topaz
Ask about the zodiac sign for December 22
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The day after the solstice
By December 22 the Sun has reached its southernmost declination, about 23.4 degrees south of the celestial equator, and begins its slow return north. The change in daylight is a matter of seconds a day at first, which is why the days around the solstice feel the same length.
In China and other East Asian calendars, the winter solstice festival Dongzhi falls on or around December 21 or 22, a family meal at the year's low point. The point is the same one astrologers mark as the start of Capricorn, though the two traditions read it with different symbols.
Is December 22 a cusp date?
On the first day of Capricorn, a cardinal earth sign, the reading is of the sign in its most typical form: measured, ambitious about long projects and wary of wasted effort. It is a cusp date when the crossing falls on the 22nd, and a birth before it on the clock of your birth place takes the Sagittarius description, freer and more talkative. The calculator or a chart decides.
The standard table gives Capricorn. The change from Sagittarius into Capricorn can reach December 22 in some year and time zone within 2000 to 2050, so a birth on this date can belong to either sign.
Across 2000 to 2050 (51 years) the Sun entered Capricorn on these UTC dates: December 21 in 39, December 22 in 12.
Within those years the entry into Capricorn fell on December 21 between 05:00 and 00:00 UTC; on December 22 between 00:20 and 07:00 UTC. Clocks in populated time zones run from UTC-10 to UTC+12, so the same instant can read as the day before or the day after, and your birth time and birth place decide which side of it you were born.
| Year | Sun enters Capricorn |
|---|---|
| 2026 | about Dec 21, 20:50 UTC |
| 2027 | about Dec 22, 02:40 UTC |
| 2028 | about Dec 21, 08:30 UTC |
Born near that moment? The sun sign calculator takes your year, time and time zone.
The Capricorn decan for December 22
December 22 falls in decan 1 of Capricorn, December 22 to 31, ruled by Capricorn. Each sign is cut into three decans of about ten days, ruled in turn by the sign itself and the next two signs of its element.
Capricorn, the sign of Saturn, rules its own first decan, so there is no second flavour to add. Decan tradition makes this the most disciplined of the three. Treat it as the base version of the sign.
Birthday number 22 for December 22
The day 22 is already a single digit. Most numerology systems keep it unreduced as a master number.
A 22 is a master number, kept whole in most systems and described as the builder, the number for large practical undertakings. The tarot has an echo: in some traditions The Fool is numbered 22 instead of 0, a journey ending where it began, which suits a day just past the solstice. Everyday readings still reduce 22 to 4.
The December birthstone
Birthstones follow the month and not the day, so a birthday on December 22 shares Turquoise (also Tanzanite, Zircon, Blue Topaz) with every other December birthday. See December birthstones.
December 22 zodiac questions
What zodiac sign is December 22?
Capricorn on the standard calendar. If the solstice came after your birth moment in your time zone, the Sun was still in Sagittarius.
Is December 22 the first day of winter?
In the northern astronomical calendar winter starts at the solstice, which is December 21 or 22 depending on the year. Meteorologists count winter from December 1, so the two usages differ.
Why is 22 called a master number?
Numerology keeps 11 and 22 unreduced and gives them a special weight. 22 is called the master builder in that tradition. It is a belief system, not something that can be measured.
Dates next to December 22
Other December dates with their own page: December 21.
A birthday date is one piece of the chart
Our astrologers read the Moon, rising sign, houses and transits that a date cannot show.
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