Lunar New Year 2025: Celebrating the Year of the Wood Snake
Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year) will occur on January 29, 2025. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2025 is the year of the Wood Snake. Lunar New Year celebrations are closely linked to the lunar cycle, so you can download Sky Tonight, where you can conveniently track the phases of the Moon and even set notifications. And here, you can learn more about this festival and traditions associated with it.
Contents
- When is Lunar New Year 2025?
- 2025 is a year of what animal?
- Why is the Lunar New Year different every year?
- How long is Chinese New Year 2025?
- Lunar New Year dates 2025-2036
- Lunar New Year celebration
- Facts about Chinese New Year
- Lunar New Year 2025: Bottom line
When is Lunar New Year 2025?
In 2025, Chinese New Year (called Spring Festival in China) is celebrated on January 29. This festival is always tied to the date of the New Moon in China.
When does the Lunar New Year start?
Lunar New Year is traditionally celebrated by the Chinese on the second New Moon after the winter solstice. This year, such a New Moon will occur on January 29 at 12:36 GMT. Due to the difference in time zones, in China, it will occur on January 29 at 20:36.
When does the Lunar New Year end?
The Lunar New Year celebrations end on the day of the Chinese Lantern Festival. In 2025, it will fall on February 12. The Lantern Festival marks the first Full Moon of the new lunar year, which will occur on February 12 at 13:53 GMT.
2025 is a year of what animal?
Each year in the Chinese lunar calendar is represented by a particular animal: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, or Pig. 2025 is the Year of the Snake, more precisely — the Wood Snake. According to astrologists, people born in the Year of the Wood Snake are supposed to have a high level of wisdom, logic, and philosophical knowledge.
Why is the Lunar New Year different every year?
Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, but it always occurs at the New Moon between January 21 and February 20.
Why does the holiday’s date always change? While in Western countries, the Gregorian solar calendar is used to mark the traditional holidays, Chinese people use their own lunisolar calendar with an occasional extra month.
Chinese lunar calendar: how does it work?
Although the traditional Chinese calendar is often referred to as a lunar calendar, it is, in fact, a hybrid of lunar and solar calendars. It means that it takes into account both the Moon’s orbit around the Earth and the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
In the Chinese calendar, the synodic month is used. It is the period the Moon takes to revolve around the Earth once relative to the Sun. The synodic month lasts from the New Moon to the next New Moon and equals 29.53 days. If you multiply this number by 12 months, you’ll get 354 days per year, which is 11 days less than it takes our planet to revolve around the Sun.
The Chinese wanted to fix this inconsistency and synchronize their calendar with the Earth’s movement around the Sun. So once every three years, a 13th month is added to the Chinese calendar. This “leap month” is the reason why Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year in the Gregorian calendar.
How long is Chinese New Year 2025?
In 2025, Chinese New Year celebrations will last for 16 days. They will start on the evening of January 28 (on New Year’s Eve) and end with the Lantern Festival on February 12, just before the Full Moon (called the Snow Moon in Western tradition). Although Chinese New Year is celebrated for more than two weeks, only the first eight days (from January 28 to February 5) are considered a public holiday.
Lunar New Year dates 2025-2036
Here is a calendar with the dates of Lunar New Year for the upcoming 12-year cycle. In brackets, you can see animal signs for each year.
- 2025: January 29 (Snake)
- 2026: February 17 (Horse)
- 2027: February 6 (Goat)
- 2028: January 26 (Monkey)
- 2029: February 13 (Rooster)
- 2030: February 3 (Dog)
- 2031: January 23 (Pig)
- 2032: February 11 (Rat)
- 2033: January 31 (Ox)
- 2034: February 19 (Tiger)
- 2035: February 8 (Rabbit)
- 2036: January 28 (Dragon)
Lunar New Year celebration
The Lunar New Year, which is based on the traditional Chinese calendar, is observed not only in China — it is a very important festival for millions of people in other Asian countries. All of them have their own traditions for celebrating this holiday. Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year in other countries can occasionally fall on different dates due to time zones.
What countries celebrate Lunar New Year?
Apart from China, where it’s a national holiday, Lunar New Year is celebrated in countries that either use a similar lunar calendar or have a considerable Chinese population. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of such countries (in brackets, you’ll see the local name of the festival):
- Korea (Seollal);
- Vietnam (Tet);
- Malaysia (Kongsi Raya);
- Indonesia (Tahun Baru Imlek);
- Mongolia (Tsagaan Sar).
Chinese customs for the Lunar New Year celebration
Chinese New Year celebrations commonly feature putting up red decorations in your home, setting off firecrackers and fireworks, watching lion and dragon dances in the street, and eating jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) with your family. Not many people know that the Chinese also have traditional “instructions” on how to behave on each of the 16 days of the New Year festival. Here they are:
- January 28, Chinese New Year’s Eve: family reunion dinner, staying up until midnight;
- January 29, Chinese New Year: visiting relatives, attending ancestor graves;
- January 30: married women visit their parents with their husbands and children;
- January 31: staying at home with the family and playing games;
- February 1: praying and going to temples;
- February 2: breaking taboos from previous days (such as doing needlework and getting your hair cut);
- February 3: getting rid of old and unwanted things;
- February 4: going out to nature;
- February 5, day 8th of the 1st lunar month: as 8 is considered the luckiest number in China, most businesses like to reopen on this day, so most people return to work;
- February 6: lighting incense in honor of the mythical Jade Emperor;
- February 7: celebrating the “birth of stone” (the birth of all things) by not moving anything made of stone;
- February 8: fathers invite their sons-in-law over;
- February 9-11: cooking and making lanterns as a preparation for the Lantern Festival;
- February 12, Lantern Festival: lighting lanterns, answering the riddles written on them, watching dragon dances, and eating the traditional dessert called tangyuan.
Facts about Chinese New Year
Here are a few interesting facts about Chinese New Year that you probably didn’t know about.
- Firecrackers were traditionally used during the festival to scare away evil spirits. The color red was partly used for the same purpose.
- Lunar New Year in China causes the largest migration in the world. Millions of Chinese travel from big cities to rural villages to visit their parents. There’s even a special word for this phenomenon — 春运 (chunyun or “spring migration”).
- Single young people in China sometimes rent fake partners for Lunar New Year. They do it to appease parents and relatives.
- You’re not allowed to shower, sweep the floor, or throw out garbage on New Year’s Day. It’s considered bad luck.
- Chinese kids receive red envelopes with money inside during the holiday. In the modern age, there are digital red envelopes too.
- The Chinese believe the year of your zodiac animal is the unluckiest for you. So good luck to all the Snakes in 2025!
Lunar New Year 2025: Bottom line
Lunar New Year falls on January 29, 2025, and marks the beginning of the Year of the Wood Snake. It corresponds with the day of the New Moon in China. During this festival, people decorate their homes, set off fireworks, watch dragon dances, and eat jiaozi (Chinese dumplings).
We wish you clear skies and a happy Lunar New Year!
