In Bangkok, there are large celebrations in Chinatown, Yaowarat Road, where the main road is closed and turned into a pedestrian street, with a member of the royal family in attendance each year to open the ceremony, such as Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, Satun, and Songkhla. Celebrations are centered primarily in Binondo in Manila, the oldest Chinatown in the world, with other celebrations taking place in key cities. Chinese temples are generally open for 24 hours on the first day, distributing red envelopes and sometimes rice, fruits or sugar to the poor.citation needed On 19 January 2001, the Ministry of Religious Affairs issued Ministerial Decree No.13 of 2001 on Ringospin Casino Imlek Day as a National Holiday to set Hari Tahun Baru Imlek as a “facultative holiday” for the Chinese community.
Although the Spring Festival is scheduled on the first day of the first lunar month, the activities during Chinese New Year are not limited to just that day. Nowadays, the Spring Festival is seen more as a crucial moment for family reunion and cultural inheritance. Chinese New Year (also called Spring Festival or Lunar New Year) is the most popular holiday in China and Chinese communities around the world. According to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, years were historically designated through a combination of the Ten Heavenly Stems and the Twelve Earthly Branches.
What are some common taboos or things to avoid doing during the New Year period to prevent bad luck?
The remaining 14 days are usually only celebrated by ethnic Chinese families. In Indonesia, the first day of the Chinese New Year is recognized as a national holiday. In Singapore, Chinese New Year is officially a two-day public holiday and is accompanied by various festive activities. George Town, a Chinese-majority city, is known for its lively Chinese New Year celebrations that last until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day. Chinese New Year’s Eve is typically a half-day holiday in Malaysia, while Chinese New Year is a two-day public holiday.
In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year occurs on the new moon that falls between 21 January and 20 February. Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines celebrate it as an official festival. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red envelopes. Windows and doors may be decorated with red paper-cuts and couplets representing themes such as good fortune, happiness, wealth, and longevity.
In Taiwan in the 2000s, some employers also gave red packets as a bonus to maids, nurses, or domestic workers from Southeast Asian countries, although whether this is appropriate is controversial. Incense, tea, fruits, vegetarian food or roasted pig, and gold paper are served as customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person. While large firework displays are popular in some places, Taiwan tends to focus more on temple visits, lantern-lighting ceremonies, and family reunions.citation needed ‘Spring Festival’ is the standard and official term; people in Taiwan typically do not use “Spring Festival” in daily conversations.
- The Spring Festival of 2026 will arrive on February 17th of the Gregorian calendar.
- During the Jin dynasty (266–420), people started the New Year’s Eve tradition of all-night revelry called shousui (守歲).
- Neighboring Alhambra has also hosted a large festival since 1993 with many performances and street vendors.
- The connection between zodiac animals and Earthly Branches reflects the ancient Chinese understanding of natural order.
- It is customary for gifts to be wrapped in red or golden paper, symbolizing good luck.
Chinese New Year Calendar 2026: Key Dates and Customs
- Before 1872, traditional events of the Japanese New Year were celebrated on the first day of the year of the modern Tenpō calendar, the last official lunisolar calendar.
- This practice reflects the common desire among the Chinese people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new year, to rid themselves of past poverty and hardships, and to usher in a prosperous and auspicious life in the new year.
- But the animals in the zodiac can slightly differ in other countries, like the Boar replacing the Pig in the zodiac in Japan and the dragon being substituted for a mythical creature, known as Naga, in Thailand.
- But often at the heart of the events, you’ll spot a dragon and a lion.
- Monterey Park puts on the largest of such festivals, occupying 5 blocks in the city and attracting over 100,000 individuals.
- According to the traditional legend of The Great Race, it was the Jade Emperor who organised a race which saw the 12 species take part.
For example, Cantonese people eat dishes made of seven types of vegetables. The seventh day of the Lunar New Year (February 23) is when followers believe the Chinese mother goddess, Nuwa, created humanity. As noted earlier, for many people Lunar New Year is a time to consult the stars to find out what lies ahead in the coming months.
Traditional foods include carp for long life, whole fish for abundance, dumplings and spring rolls for wealth, long noodles for longevity, sticky rice cakes for success, and citrus fruits for good luck. On the first day of the New Year, sweeping or cleaning is avoided as it is believed to brush away good fortune. In 2026 the Chinese New Year marks the Year of the Horse, according to the Chinese zodiac calendar. These greetings or phrases may also be used just before children receive their red packets, when gifts are exchanged, when visiting temples, or even when tossing the shredded ingredients of yusheng, particularly popular in Malaysia and Singapore. For example, as breaking objects during the new year is considered inauspicious, one may then say 歲歲平安 (Suìsuì-píng’ān) immediately, which means “everlasting peace year after year”.
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It is one of the representatives of traditional Chinese snacks and is a spherical food made of glutinous rice flour. Eating dumplings is a unique way to express people’s wishes for blessings and good fortune during the end of the old year and the beginning of new year. Lantern Festival is famous for its Yuan Xiao (sweet rice balls), whose round shape symbolizes family unity and togetherness. It is best to choose bright, colorful, and warm Chinese New Year clothes, especially red clothes, because red symbolizes auspiciousness and festivity. It embodies the affection and nostalgia of more than one billion Chinese people.
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Buy yourself a Chinese-style coat, get your kids tiger-head hats and shoes, and decorate your home with some beautiful red Chinese knots, then you will have an authentic Chinese-style Spring Festival. In stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and other cities, products of traditional Chinese style have started to lead fashion trends. Red couplets and red lanterns are displayed on the door frames and light up the atmosphere. For example, in 2013, New Year’s Eve (9 February) fell on a Saturday and New Year’s Day (10 February) on a Sunday. In 1967, during the Cultural Revolution, official Chinese New Year celebrations were banned in China.
Chinese New Year Traditions & Celebrations
These yearly combinations are believed to influence the traits of the era and the people born in that year. Every year, a different animal is honoured based on the Chinese zodiac. In 2027, the celebrations will begin on Saturday, February 6, ushering in the Year of the Goat. For many families, the festival marks more than a change of date, but a cultural reset rooted in renewal, reunion and hope for the months ahead. Community carnivals, family gatherings, parades, traditional food, and fireworks will mark the Year of the Horse. A huge part of Asian culture is not just family and togetherness – but incredible food.
If in the previous year a death was experienced in the family, seven dishes are served. Most reunion dinners also feature a communal hot pot, as it is believed to signify the coming together of the family members for the meal. Nowadays, single women write their contact numbers on mandarin oranges and throw them into a river or a lake, after which single men collect the oranges and eat them.
Since Chinese New Year falls on different days of the week each year, the governments of some of these countries choose to adjust working days to create a longer public holiday. New Year’s celebrations continued under the Yuan dynasty, when people also gave nian gao (年糕, “year cakes”) to relatives. It is believed that placing the couplets on the door to the home in the days preceding the new year was widespread during the Song dynasty. The Chunlian (Spring Couplets) was written by Meng Chang, an emperor of the Later Shu (935–965 AD), during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period：”新年納餘慶，嘉節號長春” (“Enjoying past legacies in the new year, the holiday foreseeing the long-lasting spring”). Eventually, men zhuang became a symbol of good luck, and people started sending them to friends on New Year’s Day, calling them by a new name, bai nian tie. During the Jin dynasty (266–420), people started the New Year’s Eve tradition of all-night revelry called shousui (守歲).
Visitors will be showered with gifts after catching up over Lunar New Year treats. Bags are stocked with presents and fruits to give out at people’s homes. For instance, in some northern areas people tend to serve dumplings and noodles, whereas the south can’t live without steamed rice.
But if you have ever heard of the Lantern Festival, it’s important to note that there is a distinction between the events. But you may have noticed that it doesn’t occur on this exact date every year. The term Chinese New Year is commonly used; however, Lunar New Year has become more widely used as an inclusive term to represent the various nations that also celebrate at the same time of year. Centred around removing the old and bad and welcoming the good and new for the year ahead, many communities and cultures have both similar and different traditions. Celebrated across Asia and beyond, the Lunar New Year sees numerous events and festivities taking place worldwide. We looked around and settled in China Xian Tour due to their incredible efficiency.
Another family dinner is held to celebrate the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven. For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat, as the seventh day commemorates the birth of Sakra, lord of the Devas in Buddhist cosmology, who is analogous to the Jade Emperor. In China, it is also common that on the 5th day people will shoot off firecrackers to get Guan Yu’s attention, thus ensuring his favour and good fortune for the new year.
As mentioned, the Lunar New Year is also called the Spring Festival in China and marks the beginning of the spring season. “China Xian Tour put together 9 days Beijing, Zhangjiajie, Guilin and Xian Tour bespoke to us. Start planning your China holiday with one of our local specialists. Besides Chinese New Year, the Lantern Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival are also representative traditional festivals in China.
Before the Meiji period, the date of the Japanese New Year had been based on Japanese versions of lunisolar calendar (the last of which was the Tenpō calendar) and, before, Jōkyō calendar, the Chinese version. Since 1873, the official Japanese New Year has been celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, on 1 January of each year, New Year’s Day (元日, Ganjitsu). The Japanese New Year (正月, Shōgatsu) is an annual festival that takes place in Japan.
Because it marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year and coincides with the return of spring and the revival of all things, people name it “Spring Festival”. The name “Spring Festival” literally means a festival celebrating the arrival of spring. As one of the most important and distinctive traditional Chinese folk festivals, Chinese New Year carries rich cultural connotations and profound national emotions. Although Vietnam replaces the Rabbit with the Cat in its zodiac sequence, the Year of the Horse remains consistent across these cultures, underscoring shared cosmological heritage. These practices reflect the enduring symbolic association between the horse and swift achievement. The horse, delayed by helping others along the way, finished seventh – reinforcing cultural values of loyalty and benevolence.
A big family reunion dinner is usually held on Lunar New Year’s Eve, which falls on February 16 this year. On a related note, many say you shouldn’t wash or cut your hair on the first day of the new year either. The aim is to rid your home of any bad luck that’s accumulated over the past year.