Lunar New Year
January 29, 2025
Lunar New Year 2025, the Year of the Snake.
“Lunar New Year celebrates the first days of spring on the lunar calendar. It has become the symbol of bidding farewell to the old year and starting fresh the new year, and [it’s a time] of family reunion.” — Jenny Leung, the executive director of the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco
The calendar Americans follow in the U.S. was created in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII and first adopted by Catholic countries. Gradually, the majority of countries got on Gregorian time, but some still follow other calendars, particularly for holidays. That’s the case with the Lunar New Year.
Instead of tracking the Earth’s orbit around the sun, which is slightly over 365 days, the lunar calendar tracks the cycles of the moon. One lunar year is 12 full cycles of the moon, approximately 354 days. The Hijri calendar, also known as the Islamic calendar, abides by this lunation, but the Chinese lunar calendar (as well as Hindu, Jewish and other calendars) follows a lunisolar cycle, which adjusts with an extra month when it drifts too far from the solar calendar. That’s why the Lunar New Year falls on a different day of our Gregorian calendar each year but within the same approximate time frame.
Generally, Lunar New Year celebrations span around 15 days (from the new moon to the full moon), but the duration and ways of celebrating vary between cultures, religions and geographical regions.
“Lunar New Year is celebrated around the world,” Leung explains, “particularly in Asia, [in countries] such as China, Vietnam and Korea.”
Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year and the Spring Festival—you may hear all three of these terms and wonder which is the correct one to use. When referring specifically to a new-year event where Chinese traditions and culture are celebrated, you can refer to it as Chinese New Year. Lunar New Year is more inclusive and encompasses all celebrations that mark the new year according to the lunisolar calendar. The term Spring Festival is mostly used in mainland China and marks a weeklong vacation that prompts massive travel across the country as people head home to spend time with family.