Lunar New Year

In Asian communities around the world, the lunar new year is the most important and most festive holiday of the year. In many places, January 1 is "day one" of the new year, based on a solar calendar, but Lunar New Year is based also on the lunar calendar which tracks time by the moon cycles. It falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice and that is why it falls on a different date each year, usually between January 21 and February 20.

Lunar New Year is celebrated by more than 1 billion people across the globe, from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Tibet, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, to Malaysia and also places with large Asian diaspora populations like San Francisco and New York.

Each year, the Lunar New Year celebrates one of 12 animals: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. In addition, it differentiates between five elements: fire, earth, metal, wood, and water. When the individual animal signs are combined with the five elements they create one of 60 distinct Zodiac signs celebrated each year.