What is Lunar New Year?
Lunar New Year is the new year celebration based on the lunar (moon) calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar most of the world uses. It falls between late January and mid-February and is celebrated by Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan, and other East and Southeast Asian communities, plus millions of diaspora families around the world. In Chinese tradition it’s called Spring Festival (Chūnjié); in Korean it’s Seollal; in Vietnamese it’s Tết. These are distinct celebrations with shared roots.
1 · MindWhat people believe, and how they know
The lunar calendar divides the year into months based on the cycles of the moon. Lunar New Year typically falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, usually between January 21 and February 20. The date shifts each year on the Gregorian calendar.
The Chinese Spring Festival (Chūnjié) is the largest annual celebration in the world by number of participants. It lasts 15 days and culminates in the Lantern Festival. Traditions include family reunions and large meals, setting off fireworks, giving red envelopes (hóngbāo) with money, and cleaning the house to sweep out bad luck. The festival follows a 12-year cycle of animals (the Chinese zodiac): Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
Korean Seollal is a three-day holiday centered on ancestor veneration and family. Families perform a formal bowing ritual (sebae) to elders and receive blessings in return. Traditional foods include tteokguk (rice cake soup), eating it is said to gain a year of age.
Vietnamese Tết (Tết Nguyên Đán) is the most important Vietnamese holiday, lasting several days and including family reunions, ancestor offerings, new clothes, and traditional foods like bánh chưng (sticky rice cake). Flowers, peach blossoms and yellow apricot blossoms, mark the season.
These traditions immigrated to America with the communities that celebrate them. Many American cities have Lunar New Year parades and festivals that are public events.
What each tradition or community says
Many American media outlets call it ‘Chinese New Year,’ but this erases Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan, and other communities who celebrate their own distinct versions. ‘Lunar New Year’ is more inclusive and accurate.
If you know someone who celebrates Lunar New Year, ‘Happy Lunar New Year’ is appropriate. Or the specific version: ‘Chúc mừng năm mới’ (Vietnamese), ‘Gung hay fat choy’ (Cantonese, though Mandarin and other dialects have different phrases), ‘Saehae bok mani badeuseyo’ (Korean, ‘receive many blessings in the new year’).
If you’re invited to a Lunar New Year gathering, you’ll likely eat a lot, the meal is central. Red envelopes (for children and unmarried adults) are common gifts. Wearing red or bright colors is a positive gesture.
2 · HeartWhat it feels like
For many immigrant families, Lunar New Year is the holiday that feels most like home, the one where you eat the food you grew up eating, speak the language you think in, and call relatives you haven’t talked to since last year.
If a colleague leaves the office for a few days around this time, it’s often because they’re traveling home to their family. A ‘happy new year’ from a coworker who thought to say it goes a long way.
The Lunar New Year parade in San Francisco is one of the oldest outside Asia. There are probably events near you this year. Worth going once.Neighbor Radio
3 · HandsHow to be a good neighbor
Public Lunar New Year events are common in cities with significant Asian communities. They’re almost universally welcoming to visitors. Go, eat the food, watch the dragon dance, and ask questions.
If you’re hosting an event near this time and have Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese colleagues or neighbors, acknowledging the holiday is a small gesture that means something.
This weekWhat’s the biggest celebration in your family’s heritage? Has it changed in America, and what got kept, and what got lost?
Four questions to take with you
From Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan, about the stranger who stopped to help. We call it the Samaritan Test.
- Did they see? Or look right past?
- Did they stop? Even when it was inconvenient?
- Did it cost them? Time, money, comfort, reputation?
- Did they treat the person like a person? Not like a label?
Try it on: a celebration your neighbors mark every year that you’ve never noticed. What’s been going on in the house next door that you’ve been missing?
Quick questions
When is Lunar New Year?
It shifts each year on the Gregorian calendar, usually falling between late January and mid-February. It marks the second new moon after the winter solstice.
Is it appropriate to say ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ to Korean or Vietnamese people?
Better to say ‘Happy Lunar New Year’ or to use the specific tradition’s name. Calling a Seollal or Tết celebration ‘Chinese New Year’ erases those traditions.
What do red envelopes mean?
In Chinese tradition, hóngbāo (red envelopes) contain money given to children and unmarried adults by married elders. Red is the color of luck and protection. Similar traditions exist in Korean (sebae-don) and Vietnamese (lì xì) customs.
Written in plain words by the Neighbor Radio team. Each faith's and community's section is checked by someone from that faith or community. Until then, this page says so. Spot something wrong? Tell us. We read every note and fix mistakes.