Lunar New Year is the first day of a secular, sacred, or other year whose months are coordinated by the cycles of the moon. The whole year may account to a purely lunar calendar, which is not coordinated to a solar calendar or it may account to a lunisolar calendar, whose months coordinate to the cycles of the moon but whose length is periodically adjusted to keep it relatively in sync with the solar year – typically by adding an intercalary month, when needed.

Just like we celebrate New Year’s Day with fireworks and have a couple days of rest, Lunar New Year celebrates it too. The celebration usually lasts 15 days, each day with its own purpose like meeting up with relatives, eating special food, and celebrating something special. There’s heaps of information you can find out about the Lunar New Year on the internet. Some really interesting things about legends, food and festivities.

Among the various celebrations and festivities, Lunar New Year is always deeming the most important of all. Lunar families living in different part of the country or the world will make it a point to gather together for the Chinese New Year. This is very similar to the Western concept of getting together during the New Year day. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “good fortune or happiness”, wealth, and longevity. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes to giving to the children.
Many people inaccurately calculate their Chinese birth-year by converting it from their Gregorian birth-year. As the Chinese New Year starts in late January to mid-February, the previous Chinese year dates through January 1^st until that day in the new Gregorian year, remaining unchanged from the previous Gregorian year. For example, the 1989 year of the Snake began on February 6^th 1989. The year 1990 is generally aligned with the year of the Horse. However, the 1989 year of the Snake officially ended on February 8^th 1990. This means that anyone born from January 1^st to February 7^th 1990 was actually born in the year of the Snake rather than the year of the Horse. Many online Chinese Sign calculators do not account for the non-alignment of the two calendars, using Gregorian-calendar years rather than official Chinese New Year dates.

This year, Lunar New Year’s starts on February 8, 2016 and it is the year of the monkey. Be sure to check out the festivities and may this year be good to you.