In Chinese, the festival is commonly known as the "Spring Festival" (traditional Chinese: 春節; simplified Chinese: 春节; pinyin: Chūnjié), [16] as the spring season in the lunisolar calendar traditionally starts with lichun, the first of the twenty-four solar terms which the festival celebrates around the time of the Chinese New Year 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 Tourists wait to board a train at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station to return home for Chinese Lunar New Year holiday in Shanghai on Jan 25, 2025. Photo by CFOTO/ Future Publishing via Getty Images. 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 Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year or Spring Festival 2025 falls on Wednesday, January 29th, 2025. Snake is the new year animal. Learn more about Chinese Lunar New Year traditions, taboos, food, zodiac signs, and greetings. It is the Year of the Snake according to the Chinese zodiac, which features a 12-year cycle with each year represented by a specific animal. People born in the Years of the Snake including 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, and 2025 will experience their Zodiac Year of Birth (Ben Ming Nian). 2026 Chinese New Year falls on Feb. 17th and it is For Chinese people, Lunar New Year is the Spring Festival, and it’s celebrated widely in Taiwan and across Southeast Asia in countries with large Chinese populations, such as Singapore and Malaysia. The Chinese New Year is also a time when the annual zodiac sign changes, meaning that each year is assigned to a specific zodiac animal. Zodiac signs play an integral role in Chinese culture. It is said that your luck regarding financial situations, health and relationships for each year can be calculated based on your zodiac sign. 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 Lunar New Year, festival typically celebrated in China and other Asian countries that begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon of the lunar calendar, 15 days later. The dates of the holiday vary from year to year, beginning some time between January 21 and February 20. The Chinese New Year of 2025 falls on January 29th (Wednesday), and will last to February 2nd. It is the Year of Snake.As an official public holiday, Chinese people can get eight days' off from work, from January 28th to February 4th. What is Lunar New Year? Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, marks the start of a new zodiac cycle based on the Chinese lunar calendar. Each year, the date shifts within the Gregorian calendar. Lunar New Year is celebrated around the world, particularly in Asian countries like China, shown here (Beijing). 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. Some believe that this sweeps away bad luck and makes room for incoming blessings. However, sweeping or cleaning on New Year’s Day is avoided, as it could sweep away good fortune. Special Foods and Festive Customs of Chinese New Year. Food is an essential part of Chinese New Year celebrations, with each dish carrying symbolic meanings. Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China. Tied to the Chinese lunar calendar, it begins on the new moon that appears between January 21 and February 20. Website Name HISTORY Why is the celebration also called "Guo Nian"? "Nian”is the Chinese word for year. In folk culture, the Spring Festival celebration is also called “Guo Nian” (meaning “passing a year”). In a Chinese New Year story, “Nian” is a fierce and cruel monster which eats livestock and kids, but it is scared of red color and cracker sound The Vietnamese New Year celebration of Tet, short for Tet Nguyen Dan which means “festival of the first day”, is celebrated over three days as opposed to the traditional 15 of the Chinese New 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? As such, "Chinese New Year" or "Spring Festival" has been used when it was important to recognise the specific cultural aspects of celebrations in China or by Chinese diaspora. However, "Lunar New Year" has been used in an international context when it was important to recognise other cultures that celebrated the first day of their lunar calendars. When is Lunar New Year 2025? This year, Lunar New Year begins Jan. 29. Because the lunar calendar is based on the phases of the moon, the beginning of the year happens on a different day each year.
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