Lunar New Year 2025: What does Year of the Snake mean?
Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, is a major festival celebrated at the beginning of the Chinese lunisolar calendar. Thought to have originated in ancient China around 3,500 years ago, it is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture, marking the end of winter and the beginning of the new year.
The festival typically falls between 21 January and 20 February and is celebrated in the Sinosphere or the Sinic world (Chinese-speaking countries and regions, and countries and regions historically under Chinese influence), including mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Vietnam, and Korea. Cultural traditions including chucheng (cleaning one’s house to remove dust and bad luck), decorating with lucky red items such as lanterns, papercuts and spring couplets (chunlian 春聯), giving and receiving red envelopes known as hongbao and eating auspicious foods with family make the Lunar New Year a special time that’s more than just celebration – the festival respects cultural heritage and unites families and communities in a spirit of renewal, optimism and hope for the future.
In 2025, the Lunar New Year will begin on 29 January.