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Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year based on lunar or lunisolar calendars, celebrated by various cultures across the world. Learn about the origins, customs and dates of Chinese New Year, Tibetan New Year, Korean New Year, Vietnamese New Year and more.
Jan 31, 2022 · Tuesday 1 February marks the Lunar New Year for 2022 - celebrated in China, East Asia and across the world. The celebrations see people feast with relatives, watch parades and pray for good...
Aug 21, 2024 · Learn about the origins, customs, and legends of the Lunar New Year, a festival celebrated in many Asian countries and the Asian diaspora. Find out how the lunar calendar works and how it differs from the solar calendar.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar.
- Overview
- What is the Lunar New Year?
- How Lunar New Year is celebrated
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Observed by billions of people, the festival also known as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is marked by themes of reunion and hope.
Lanterns and light installations illuminate the city walls of Xi'an, China, during a rehearsal for its Spring Festival light show. Also known as Lunar New Year and Chinese New Year, the festival is celebrated throughout the world with family reunions and plenty of food.
Modern China actually uses a Gregorian calendar like most of the rest of the world. Its holidays, however, are governed by its traditional lunisolar calendar, which may have been in use from as early as the 21st century B.C. When the newly founded Republic of China officially adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1912, its leaders rebranded the observation of the Lunar New Year as Spring Festival, as it is known in China today.
(Learn why some people celebrate Christmas in January.)
As its name suggests, the date of the lunar new year depends on the phase of the moon and varies from year to year. Each year in the lunar calendar is named one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, which are derived from ancient Chinese folklore. Repeating in a rotating basis, these animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
Today, Spring Festival is celebrated in China and Hong Kong; Lunar New Year is also celebrated in South Korea, Tibet, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and places with large Chinese populations. Though the festival varies by country, it is dominated by themes of reunion and hope.
For Chinese people, Spring Festival lasts for 40 days and has multiple sub-festivals and rituals. The New Year itself is a seven-day-long state holiday, and on the eve of the new year, Chinese families traditionally celebrate with a massive reunion dinner. Considered the year’s most important meal, it is traditionally held in the house of the most senior family member.
(Learn about Lunar New Year with your kids.)
The holiday may be getting more modern, but millennia-old traditions are still held dear in China and other countries. In China, people customarily light firecrackers, which are thought to chase away the fearful monster Nian. (However, the tradition has been on the decline in recent years due to air pollution restrictions that have hit the fireworks industry hard.) The color red is used in clothing and decorations to ensure prosperity, and people exchange hongbao, red envelopes filled with lucky cash.
Meanwhile in Korea, people make rice cake soup and honor their ancestors during Seollal. And during Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, flowers play an important role in the celebrations.
Left: Each year of the lunisolar calendar is represented by one of 12 animals, called the Chinese Zodiac, which are thought to determine the personalities of people born that year. They are typically incorporated into festivities—like these tiger-themed decorations in Singapore.
Photograph by Then Chih, Xinhua/Redux
Learn about the origins, traditions and significance of Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. Find out how it is observed in different countries and regions, and why it prompts the world's largest annual migration.
- 4 min
Feb 4, 2010 · Learn about the origins, customs and celebrations of Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, in East and Southeast Asian cultures. Find out which animal represents the year 2024 and what foods and symbols bring good luck and prosperity.
Learn about the history, zodiac animals, and customs of Lunar New Year, the most important festival in China and other Asian countries. Find out how to prepare, decorate, offer sacrifices, enjoy a reunion feast, and give red envelopes for the year of the Snake in 2025.
