Chinese New Year is a special festivity based on the lunar calendar not the solar calendar. It’s celebrated on the first moon of the lunisolar calendar and marks the beginning of spring. Therefore, Chinese New Year is sometimes also called the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival.
Although here in the US, we typicaly call it Chinese New Year, there are other Asian countries that celebrate this time of the year. Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia do, too. And, of course, it is a time of festivities across the globe—due to the widely spread Asian diaspora. While western nations celebrate the beginning of the solar New Year for one day, the lunar New Year is celebrated over the course of several days in Asia.
Typically, the Lunar New Year begins with the Spring Festival on the first new moon of the lunar calendar and goes through the Lantern Festival on the next full moon of the lunar month. That means this year, 2024, people begin their festivities on February 10th and enjoy a holiday period through February 24th. This two-week period is especially important for family and friends to be together; people travel great distances to be home with their family and share in the New Year’s festivities.
photo from Depositphotos