Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year
	Top to bottom, left to right: Islamic New Year celebration in Nawa, Afghanistan; Blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah; Satu Suro celebration in Surakarta, Indonesia; Fireworks display at Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong; Chinese New Year parade in Manhattan's Chinatown, New York City, U.S.; A woman lights the candle for celebrate Diwali in India; A family gathering to make bánh tét for Tết celebrations in Vietnam; Korean pungmul dancers celebrating Seollal in Los Angeles, California, U.S.;
Type	Cultural
Date	Varies

Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year based on lunar calendars or, informally, lunisolar calendars. Lunar calendar years begin with a new moon and have a fixed number of lunar months, usually twelve, in contrast to lunisolar calendar years which have a variable number of lunar months that periodically resynchronise with the solar year. The event is celebrated by numerous cultures in various ways at different dates. The determination of the first day of a new lunar year or lunisolar year varies by culture.

Better-known lunar new year celebrations include that based on the (lunar) Islamic calendar which originated in the Middle East. Lunisolar new year celebrations include that of the (lunisolar) Hebrew calendar from same region; the (lunisolar) Chinese calendar and Tibetan calendar of East Asia;^[1]^[2]^[3] and the (lunisolar) Buddhist and Hindu calendars of South and Southeast Asia.

In 2023, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the Spring Festival that coincides with the lunisolar Chinese New Year and is also celebrated in Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Korea among others, designating Lunar New Year as a UN holiday. Some states in the US, including California and New York, officially celebrate the Lunar New Year as a public holiday in recognition of the lunisolar new year based on the Chinese calendar.

^ Huang, Grace (5 February 2019). "Lunar New Year: 11 things to know". CNN. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
^ "The Lunar New Year: Rituals and Legends". Asia for Educators, Columbia University. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
^ Wamg, Frances Kai-Hwa (23 January 2017). "10 Lunar New Year facts to help answer your pressing questions". NBC News. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2018.

[1] Huang, Grace (5 February 2019). "Lunar New Year: 11 things to know". CNN. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2025.

[2] "The Lunar New Year: Rituals and Legends". Asia for Educators, Columbia University. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2025.

[3] Wamg, Frances Kai-Hwa (23 January 2017). "10 Lunar New Year facts to help answer your pressing questions". NBC News. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2018.

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