Galloping into Lunar New Year: Fascinating Horse Imagery in Medieval Manuscripts

Lunar New Year, celebrated in 2026 on February 17, marks a season of renewal when families reunite, honor ancestors, and welcome the year ahead. It also begins a new sign in the 12-year zodiac cycle, in which each year is associated with an animal—the horse for 2026.

Lunar New Year is determined by the traditional lunisolar calendar, which follows the moon’s phases while staying aligned with the sun and seasons. Months run from one new moon to the next (about 29.5 days), while the solar year is based on Earth’s orbit around the sun (about 365.25 days). Because 12 lunar months total only about 354 days, lunisolar calendars periodically add a leap month to keep months and seasons in sync, so the length of the year can vary. As a result, the date of Lunar New Year changes each year, typically falling between January 21 and February 20. Today, Lunar New Year is celebrated in many Asian countries—including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia—and in Asian communities around the world.

People born in the Year of the Horse (1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026) are often believed to be energetic, quick-witted, and sociable. The horse is often linked with success and good fortune. A well-known Chinese idiom, 马到成功 (mǎ dào chéng gōng, “success upon the horse’s arrival”), captures this idea perfectly. It evokes the image of victory won the moment a horse reaches a battlefield. Today, the idiom is used as a new year’s blessing, wishing loved ones a smooth start and swift success in the adventures ahead.

While the Getty Museum’s Department of Manuscripts does not hold books made in Asia, European manuscripts still offer rich and vivid imagery of horses, many resonant with Lunar New Year themes. As a graduate intern in the department, I’m going to bring these themes to life in our gallery by offering four special Lunar New Year tours: two in English and two in Mandarin. We will walk through the current exhibition, Beginnings: The Story of Creation in the Middle Ages, with a special eye for those illuminations featuring striking images of the sun, moon, and horses. The tours will take place on Tuesday, February 17, and Saturday, February 21, at 2pm in English and 3pm in Mandarin. Join me to view richly painted and gilded manuscripts and explore what they meant within medieval ideas of the cosmos, power, and new beginnings.

As we welcome the Year of the Horse, I’m delighted to share a few fascinating images here from Getty’s collection of manuscripts (books written and painted by hand). In these richly illuminated volumes, horses stride across calendar pages, sprint through moral tales, and even blaze into apocalyptic visions. Seen through the eyes of medieval artists, the horse is a potent symbol of vitality, strength, and transformation—perfect for the start of a new year.

Horses in a book of hours and psalter

The first example (above left) is from a calendar page from a book of hours, the most popular type of medieval devotional manuscript. A book of hours contains Christian prayers, psalms, and hymns arranged for recitation at set hours and typically opens with a calendar listing major feasts (such as Easter and Christmas) and saints’ days. In many examples, the May calendar page often features riders moving through fresh spring landscapes, marking the turning of the seasons—an idea of cyclical time that resonates with Lunar New Year. In this volume, the image of an elegantly dressed couple riding a galloping white horse adorned with red-and-gold ornamental chains is paired with Gemini, shown as a man and woman embracing (above left).

On the right, a mid-13th-century psalter likewise shows the calendar page of May with a horse. Here, a crowned king practices falconry while seated on a white steed draped in a striking white caparison patterned with gold branch motifs.

Horses in a bestiary

Horses also appear in bestiaries, which are illustrated compilations of real and imagined animals meant to convey moral lessons. They are recorded as intensely spirited and emotionally perceptive creatures. Bestiaries state that the sound of a trumpet can stir horses’ urge to fight, that they seem to sense war from afar, and even sniff out enemies on the battlefield. Many are said to recognize their masters and grow unruly when passed to new owners. Bestiaries also claim that a horse’s eagerness (or reluctance) to fight could be read as an omen for the outcome of battle, and that loyal horses would even “weep” if their masters were killed.

In Getty’s Northumberland Bestiary, made in England around 1250–1260, a horse appears on the same page as a donkey (above left). In another image, a man on a horse is shown hunting a beaver (above right). Beaver testicles were believed to have medicinal qualities that treated anxiety and insomnia. To escape with its life, the beaver bites off its testicles and gives them to the hunter.

Horses in the apocalypse

Fire-breathing horses thunder across the pages of this apocalypse, a manuscript made in 13th-century England containing the last book of the Bible—Revelation. This visually dramatic scene embodying the terror and drama of the end times depicts the account of Revelation 9:17–19. In the apocalyptic vision, the horses have lion-like heads, mouths that pour out “fire and smoke and sulphur,” and serpent-like tails that can strike and harm. Here, their faces and tails have been transformed into instruments of destruction, making the mounts ominous signs of cosmic upheaval and the end of an age.

Horses in the jousting arena

On a lighter topic, horses participating in jousting contests are shown in a captivating tournament book. Jousting, a sport of armored knights engaging in combat on horseback with long lances, was a rigorous test of martial skill and a highly public stage for spectacle and display. In these matches, an armored horse’s power and agility were essential to the knight’s performance and to the very ideal of chivalric excellence.

From bestiary lore to apocalyptic visions and chivalric adventures, these luxuriously illuminated manuscripts reveal how deeply medieval Europeans admired the horse’s vitality, strength, and power—some of the same qualities celebrated in the Year of the Horse. In many Asian cultures, Lunar New Year is often associated with the color red because of its symbolism of good fortune, prosperity, and joy. With this tournament book horse clad in magnificent red armor (above), we wish you strength, renewal, and prosperity as you enter into the new year! Join me at the Getty Center for special Lunar New Year tours on February 17 and 21!