Millions around the world celebrate Lunar New Year today, a holiday marking the cultural and an astronomical start of a new year.
Lunar New Year can fall as early as January 21 (like it did in 1966) or as late as February 20. (That happened in 1920.)
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The dates change each year because the lunisolar calendar -- based on motion of the Earth and Moon -- on doesn’t line up well with the Gregorian calendar and its fixed number of days each year.
Lunisolar calendars get their name from their basis in both the lunar phase and the Earth’s position around the sun. Each lunar month begins with the new moon. The second new moon after the winter solstice, which is determined by the Earth’s position in its journey around the Sun, marks the beginning of the year.
In a lunisolar system, each month begins with a new moon, so months follow the Moon’s roughly 29.5-day cycle. Twelve lunar months add up to about 354 days, shorter than the 365 day solar year, making leaping necessary, further shifting Lunar New Year around the Gregorian calendar.
Earth’s journey around the Sun lasts 365.2422 days, making leap years necessary to return some alignment. The last leap year in the Gregorian calendar was 2024. We’ll next add a day to February in 2028.
Lunar calendars must leap periodically as well, but add a full (lunar) month to the calendar in years when there is a 13th new moon between winter solstices, further shifting Lunar New Year around the Gregorian Calendar. This intercalary month was last added to the Chinese calendar in 2025 and will next happen in 2028.
The Year of the Fire Horse
Each Lunar New Year is also associated with an animal from the Chinese zodiac, a repeating 12-year cycle that includes animals such as the snake (2025), goat (2026), and horse. But the zodiac system also combines each animal with one of five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal, and water — creating a 60-year cycle of unique combinations.
2014 was the year of the wood horse making 2026 the year of the fire horse. The fire horse is known as energetic, bold and sometimes unpredictable in Chinese mythology.
Chinese New Year vs. Lunar New Year
While Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year are calendrically interchangeable, Lunar New Year is a broader term that includes other celebrations at the same time based on similar lunisolar calendars. This includes Tết Nguyên Đán in Vietnam, Seollal in Korea, and Losar in Tibet.
Around the world, new year celebrations share themes of renewal, family, good fortune and meaningful foods.
Families gather in China for reunion dinners which include whole fish (surplus), dumplings (wealth) and extra long noodles representing longevity. In Vietnam, homes are cleaned and decorated with flowering branches, and families serve sticky rice cakes, braised pork and boiled chicken. In Korea, families perform ancestral rites, share festive meals such as rice cake soup, braised ribs and glass noodles.