Lunar New Year, often called the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, is the most important holiday in China and many other Asian communities. Every year is marked by a different animal and 2025 Additionally, the 27th Annual Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade and Festival is scheduled for Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. with festival booths on Bayard Street (between Mulberry and Mott streets) from 11:30 a The seventh day of the Lunar New Year (February 4, 2025) is said to be when the Chinese mother goddess, Nuwa, created humanity. Thus, it’s called renri/jan jat (the people’s birthday). In contexts outside of China, referring to Lunar New Year as "Chinese New Year" and vice versa can come off as insensitive and offensive because it ignores other cultures, all of which have their own unique traditions, beliefs, and celebrations. 2. How each Asian country celebrates and names their New Year festival is different. Different countries across Asia celebrate the new year in many ways and may follow a different zodiac. What is the Lunar New Year? The Lunar New Year — known as the Spring Festival in China , Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea — is a major festival celebrated in several Asian countries. Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in some countries and territories with a sizable Chinese population. Since Chinese New Year falls on different days of the week each year, some of these governments choose to adjust working days to create a longer public holiday. Pre-Chinese New Year Preparations and Activities (Jan. 7–Feb. 12, 2025) Jan. 7, 2025: Laba Festival. Some Chinese start to celebrate and prepare for Chinese New Year as early as day 8 of the 12 th month of the lunar calendar. This is a festival called Laba ( 腊八 Làbā /laa-baa/ '12th lunar month' + '8'), in the traditional sense, which Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. Chinese New Year 2025 will fall on Wednesday, January 29th. The date changes every year but is always somewhere in the period from January 21st to February 20th. Since the mid-1990s people in China have been given seven consecutive days off work during the Chinese New Year. This week of relaxation has been designated Spring Festival, a term that is sometimes used to refer to the Chinese New Year in general. The origins of the Chinese New Year are steeped in legend. One legend is that thousands of years Lunar New Year rush starts after China lifts COVID travel rules. By Associated Press. Lion dancer makes impact on Chinese Lunar New Year tradition. By Mori Rothman, Michael D. Regan. Happy Lunar During Chinese New Year, people have a long list of things to do. From one week preceding the festival to the 15th day after, many Chinese New Year customs are widely observed for thousands of years. The family reunion dinner, eating dumplings, and setting off firework are the must-dos that you might know. What else interesting do the Chinese do? A shop selling decorations for the Chinese New Year in Wuhan, China (). The fireworks at Singapore's River Hongbao during the Lantern Festival in 2015. Chinese New Year, known in China as the Spring Festival and in Singapore as the Lunar New Year, is a holiday on and around the new moon on the first day of the year in the traditional Chinese calendar. Lunar New Year may be called different names in different East Asian countries and communities, but it is celebrated on the same date (and surrounding days) with similar celebrations. China. In China, Lunar New Year is known as Chinese New Year or in Chinese 'Spring Festival' (Chunjie). The celebrations traditionally last for 16 days, beginning Happy tet. Happy Chunjie. Happy seollal etc. If u and the recipient are of different culture, its best to say both. Happy korean new year and chinese new year! “Happy lunar new year” should be ok too, but now its associated with intention of not wanting to say “happy chinese new year” so some chinese people might not like hearing it. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Let’s learn more about the significance of these goodies often served during Chinese New Year. While some of these get their meaning from homonyms, others carry symbolic meaning based on their resemblance. Here’s our pick of top five Chinese New Year goodies: 1. Pineapple Tarts Every Chinese zodiac year from 1900–2031, full table and broken down by each zodiac. Find your year, animal, dates and element (metal, water, wood, fire, earth). While 元旦 (yuán dàn) would fall on January 1 of the Gregorian calendar, it is considered the official start of the new year. Nowadays, Chinese people will have a 7-day holiday from Chinese New Year's Eve (除夕 chú xí) to the sixth day of Chinese New Year. In 2023, the Chinese New Year holiday is from January 21st to January 27th. After living in China for 3 years as V-Trust Sales Manager and 1 year in Vietnam as V-Trust Country Manager, I am happy to share my experience and feelings, even if, for sure, I don’t know everything and they may not be exhaustive. Chinese New Year and the Vietnamese New Year (called Tết in Vietnam) actually have a lot in common. 4. 12 animals, 12 different Chinese New Year Names: surprisingly, each year of the Chinese New Year calendar is named after an animal that is associated with the Chinese Zodiac. The Dragon and the Rabbit are important to the Chinese New Year. 5. The Chinese zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao or Shu Xiang, features 12 animal signs in this order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. 2025 is the Year of the Snake according to Chinese zodiac, starting from the 2025 Chinese New Year on Jan. 29th and lasting to 2026 Lunar New Year's Eve on Feb. 16. 2026 is the Year of the Horse.
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