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Why does Chinese New Year change every year?
Why is Chinese New Year based on a lunar calendar?
What is Chinese New Year?
Does Lunar New Year change every year?
Feb 1, 2022 · The official date of Chinese New Year changes every single year, and the reason why is quite simple. This particular holiday is based on a lunar calendar. In Asia, the traditional lunar calendar is used based on the orbit of the moon as it takes its time circling around earth.
Feb 8, 2021 · Unlike western societies who celebrate New Year on the last date of December every year, Chinese New Year changes. For example, last year’s Chinese New Year fell in the...
- Jack Slater
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.
Sep 13, 2024 · Chinese New Year, annual 15-day festival in China and Chinese communities around the world that begins with the new moon that occurs sometime between January 21 and February 20 according to Western calendars.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Overview
- What is the Lunar New Year?
- How Lunar New Year is celebrated
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
- 4 min
Lunar New Year is the first day of the New Year in the Chinese calendar, which differs from the Gregorian calendar. It is also known as the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. Every year is represented by a zodiac animal sign.
Aug 21, 2024 · Chinese New Year, annual 15-day festival in China and Chinese communities around the world that begins with the new moon that occurs sometime between January 21 and February 20 according to Western calendars. Festivities last until the following full moon.
